Education, Immigration and Innovation

The IW's Education, Immigration and Innovation Research Unit is researching how education and immigration contribute to securing skilled labor.

The experts scrutinise the educational system from early-childhood teaching, primary and secondary schools right up to tertiary education. The focus is on both monitoring educational processes and policy developments as well as issues of funding and fairness with respect to the education system. Our economists analyse the contribution of migration to securing a skilled workforce, examine the importance of workers qualified in STEM subjects (science, technology, electronics and mathematics) for a country’s innovation performance and investigate whether such workers are sufficiently available to the labour market. The unit identifies potential bottlenecks and suggests how these might be removed.

Contact Persons

Dr. Christina Anger

Head of the Research Group Microdata

Tel: +49 221 4981-718 Mail: anger@iwkoeln.de

Johanna Assoba

Consultant „Make it in Germany”

Mail: Assoba@iwkoeln.de Johanna Assoba

Aiste Bergmeister

Consultant "Make it in Germany"

Tel: +49 221 4981-738 Mail: bergmeister@iwkoeln.de

Julia Betz

Economist for economics of education

Tel: +49 221 4981-675 Mail: betz@iwkoeln.de Julia Betz

Rosalia Meztli Chino Flores

Consultant „Make it in Germany“

Tel: +49 221 4981-823 Mail: flores@iwkoeln.de

Dr. Wido Geis-Thöne

Senior Economist for Family Policy and Migration Issues

Tel: +49 221 4981-705 Mail: geis@iwkoeln.de

Justina Godesberg

Teamleader "Make it in Germany"

Tel: +49 221 4981-875 Mail: godesberg@iwkoeln.de Justina Godesberg

Carolina Guzman Martinez

Consultant "Make it in Germany"

Tel: +49 221 4981-337 Mail: martinez@iwkoeln.de

Maike Haag

Referentin Patentdatenbank

Tel: +49 221 4981-224 Mail: Haag@iwkoeln.de

Alexandra Köbler

Consultant for skilled labor immigration

Tel: +49 221 4981-687 Mail: koebler@iwkoeln.de Alexandra Köbler

Enno Kohlisch

Senior Economist for patent analyses

Tel: +49 221 4981-879 Mail: kohlisch@iwkoeln.de

Dr. Oliver Koppel

Team leader patent database

Tel: +49 221 4981-716 Mail: koppel@iwkoeln.de

Kerstin Krey

Head of Education, Innovation and Immigration Research Unit

Tel: +49 221 4981-833

Fax: +49 221 4981-99833

Mail: krey@iwkoeln.de

Hanna Leicher

Consultant „Make it in Germany”

Tel: +49 221 4981-779 Mail: leicher@iwkoeln.de Hanna Leicher

Jeannette Michaelle Nintcheu

Senior advisor for skilled labor immigration

Tel: +49 221 4981-872 Mail: nintcheu@iwkoeln.de Jeannette Michaelle Nintcheu

Katharina Parfil

Teamleader „Make it in Germany”

Tel: +49 221 4981-667 Mail: parfil@iwkoeln.de

Prof. Dr. Axel Plünnecke

Head of Education, Innovation and Immigration Research Unit

Tel: +49 221 4981-701 Mail: pluennecke@iwkoeln.de @A_Pluennecke

Vanessa Pohlmann

Consultant „Make it in Germany“

Tel: +49 221 4981-834 Mail: Pohlmann@iwkoeln.de

Marlene Schimpf

Consultant "Make it in Germany"

Tel: +49 221 4981-869 Mail: schimpf@iwkoeln.de

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Event 14. October 2026 Alexander Radunz

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