Summary and Outlook

Abstract

Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) recognized the necessity of the coherence of research and education about 200 years ago. Today we see a third component coming in simultaneously: innovation. Not that this third aspect gained key importance only recently, but the demands for handling the increasing complexity of innovation have grown dramatically. Innovations need vertically structured processes, i.e., from simultaneous consideration of the product definition, the market, and recognition of relevant technologies all the way to the related fundamental research. The deeper the consideration, the greater the sustainability of the innovation. By definition, an innovation is first of all something new. There is still no scale to measure innovation, but it seems reasonable to define an innovation as any new process, technology, or product that leads to a quantitative economical benefit.