Companies are an important pillar of our economy because they create jobs, prosperity and growth. It is the task of politics to support companies in adapting to a changing environment - for example, to promote research and development.
Companies and Markets

About the topic
The structure of the German and international economy is constantly changing. Companies are challenged to adapt to new realities brought about by digitization, for example. But they are also driving innovation and thus actively shaping change. Politics can support companies in this task by setting the framework conditions favorably. This includes, for example, adjusting the rules for competition, reducing bureaucracy and always maintaining a balance between established companies, such as traditional SMEs, and startups that enrich Germany as a business location with new business models.
German Economic Institute (IW)

Nothing to do with data?: Data utilisation potentials for companies
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Barbara Engels IW

Influencer dream job: Likes, views and the great fortune?
The Creator Economy is booming: more and more companies use content creators to promote their products, and more and more people want to become content creators themselves, i.e. create their own digital content, make it available to a growing audience on ...
Barbara Engels IW

Is the derisking beginning?
An analysis of German foreign trade with China and import dependencies on China in the first half of 2023 shows: Compared to the first half of 2022, German exports to China fell by over 8 percent and German imports from China by almost 17 percent.
Jürgen Matthes / Thomas Puls IW

German Industry's Options for a Secure Supply of Raw Materials
In recent years German industry has seen a rise in the risks attached to its procurement of raw materials.
Cornelius Bähr / Hubertus Bardt / Adriana Neligan IW
Our Experts

Dr. Vera Demary
Head of Digitalisation and Climate Action Research Unit
Tel: +49 221 4981-749 Mail: vera.demary@iwkoeln.de
Barbara Engels
Senior Economist for Sustainable Digitalisation
Tel: +49 221 4981-703 Mail: engels@iwkoeln.de @BarEngels
Prof. Dr. Michael Grömling
Head of Macroeconomic and the Business Cycle Research Unit
Tel: +49 221 4981-776 Mail: groemling@iwkoeln.de
Louisa Marie Kürten
Consultant for Innovation and Change
Tel: +49 221 4981-785 Mail: kuerten@iwkoeln.de @Louisa_Kuerten
Dr. Klaus-Heiner Röhl
Senior Economist for SME Policy and Regional Policy
Tel: +49 30 27877-103 Mail: roehl@iwkoeln.de
Dr. Christian Rusche
Senior Economist for Competition and Structural Change
Tel: +49 221 4981-412 Mail: rusche@iwkoeln.de
Prof. Dr. Michael Voigtländer
Head of International Economic Policy, Financial and Real Estate Markets Research Unit
Tel: +49 221 4981-741 Mail: voigtlaender@iwkoeln.de @mvoigtlaenderAll news

Nothing to do with data?: Data utilisation potentials for companies
If companies want to survive on the market in the long term, they cannot avoid the topic of data.
Barbara Engels IW

Influencer dream job: Likes, views and the great fortune?
The Creator Economy is booming: more and more companies use content creators to promote their products, and more and more people want to become content creators themselves, i.e. create their own digital content, make it available to a growing audience on digital platforms and monetise it.
Barbara Engels IW

Industrial policy at the turn of the times
The current debate on industrial policy vacillates between the extreme positions of an orthodoxy of rejecting state action and a naive belief in the state's ability to control structural change.
Michael Hüther / Hubertus Bardt / Cornelius Bähr / Jürgen Matthes / Klaus-Heiner Röhl / Christian Rusche / Thilo Schaefer IW

Is the derisking beginning?
An analysis of German foreign trade with China and import dependencies on China in the first half of 2023 shows: Compared to the first half of 2022, German exports to China fell by over 8 percent and German imports from China by almost 17 percent.
Jürgen Matthes / Thomas Puls IW

German Industry's Options for a Secure Supply of Raw Materials
In recent years German industry has seen a rise in the risks attached to its procurement of raw materials.
Cornelius Bähr / Hubertus Bardt / Adriana Neligan IW
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