Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionsanlagen und Konstruktionstechnik IPK

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Building up National Intellectual Capital Center as a national innovation strategy

2015 , Wuscher, S. , Kohl, H. , Orth, R.

Purpose of this paper is, to show the experiences from the German and European pilot projects where the developments in Germany let into a national Intellectual Capital (IC) System with different stakeholder groups. The paper shows how the German IC Center has been built up and how the different stakeholder groups spread the idea of using Intellectual Capital Statements (ICS) as a continuous management instrument to improve innovation and the future development of organizations. The paper includes how the crucial functions "qualification & training", "implementation", "quality assurance" and "dissemination" regarding IC are organized in Germany and what results have been achieved since the movement started in 2008. Approach: The definition of IC and the methodology of proceeding ICS in small and medium - sized enterprises as well as in larger companies and organizational networks have been adequately researched in the last years. Originally started as a pilot project "Intellectual Capital Statement - Made in Germany" in the "Fit fur den Wissenswettbewerb" (Fit for the Knowledge Competition) initiative, and funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the concept of ICS is now established across Germany as a national movement of IC training, implementation and quality assurance. Furthermore the German researchers collected experiences on the European level in the European pilot - project "Intellectual Capital Statement Made in Europe (InCaS)". The concept of Intellectual Capital has thus far been researched and tested specifically with regard to enterprises and as a concept of establishing national IC Center. The experiences from Germany are the basis for the adaptation of establishing national IC Center worldwide. Value and practical implications: The paper will practically show how a national IC Center in Germany is working and how this concept is transferable to other countries which could benefit from developments and results on the practical and theoretical side "made in Germany". The paper will also outline actual research activities on defining a regional concept of IC to close the gap between the well investigated concept of IC on the company level (micro) and the concept of national IC (macro).

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Intellectual capital statements as a driver for regional development

2015 , Kohl, H. , Wuscher, S. , Orth, R. , Steinhöfel, E.

The definition of Intellectual Capital (IC) and the methodology of creating Intellectual Capital Statements (ICS) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) as well as in larger companies and organizational networks have been adequately researched over the last years. The experience gained from more than 1.000 implementations of ICS in European companies has been utilized to derive a standard set of 15 IC factors according to the common categorization into Human Capital, Structural Capital and Relational Capital, which is stable and mainly applicable on the company-level. Since the concept of IC on the company level has been established, first investigations have started to come up with different concepts of IC and ICS on the regional level. These concepts show that both, the definition of IC and the procedure for implementing ICS on the regional level, are not adequately investigated yet though. Therefore, the requirement is to develop and test a stable regional IC concept, meaning a suitable definition of IC and an adjusted procedure for implementing ICS on the regional level. Against this background, the paper at hand seeks to illustrate a conceptual framework for determining and measuring IC on different actor levels (micro, meso and macro level). The illustration of the conceptual framework is based on a literature review of four different regional IC concepts from Germany and of further existing Intellectual Capital concepts on regional and national level. The findings indicate that the definition of IC and the procedure of implementing ICS on the regional level are not adequately investigated yet and an adapted procedure with a balanced combination of quantitative measurement and qualitative assessment of IC is required. The paper introduces a preliminary set of harmonized IC success factors for regions based on a recent survey and workshop with more than 65 representatives from the local and regional level in Germany carried out in September 2014. Furthermore, the paper discusses possible approaches of procedures for implementing Intellectual Capital Statements on the regional level, which is and will be investigated further on in current and planned research projects.

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IC future check: Greater transparency within the credit process

2014 , Wuscher, S. , Kohl, H. , Orth, R.

Field reports and surveys have shown that complementing financial data with information on intangibles can sharpen the view on creditworthiness of an organisation. Especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are facing the challenge that the intangibles which thus far have not been taken into account are to make transparent for their respective banks. At the same time banks adopt such qualitative information in their lending decisions to optimize their risk portfolio. This paper presents the tool box "IC Future Check" which has been developed and tested in cooperation with financial institutions and businesses within a project for the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology. In this context it shows how the "IC Future Check" systematically supports the communication between bank and business and increases the transparency of intangibles. In a case study of a German SME the practical use of the "IC Future Check" is demonstrated in the credit lending process. The presented tool "IC Future Check" can provide significant support to the communication between SMEs and banks and to reduce existing information asymmetries. This puts SMEs in position to present their future potential in a structured way and to show the transparency regarding their intangible success factors.

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