Explore our knowledge

Mari­on Po­etz

Associate Professor

Subjects
Co-creation Innovation

Primary research areas

Or­gan­iz­a­tion and Man­age­ment of In­nov­a­tion
I study how or­gan­iz­a­tions struc­ture and man­age in­nov­a­tion pro­cesses, fo­cus­ing on mech­an­isms that foster cre­ativ­ity, open­ness, and col­lab­or­a­tion across bound­ar­ies in both cor­por­ate and aca­dem­ic set­tings.
Strategy and Lead­er­ship for In­nov­a­tion
My work ex­plores how stra­tegic de­cision-mak­ing and lead­er­ship prac­tices in­flu­ence in­nov­a­tion out­comes, with a par­tic­u­lar fo­cus on stra­tegic prob­lem iden­ti­fic­a­tion, in­nov­a­tion-ori­ented gov­ernance struc­tures, and open in­nov­a­tion lead­er­ship.
Or­gan­iz­a­tion and Man­age­ment of Sci­ence
I in­vest­ig­ate how sci­ent­ists and re­search or­gan­iz­a­tions de­vel­op, eval­u­ate, and trans­late sci­entif­ic dis­cov­ery to bet­ter un­der­stand the drivers of sci­entif­ic pro­ductiv­ity and the so­ci­et­al and policy im­pact of re­search.
Open and Col­lab­or­at­ive Know­ledge Pro­duc­tion
I ex­am­ine how and un­der what con­di­tions open and col­lab­or­at­ive ap­proaches to sci­ence and in­nov­a­tion change how know­ledge is cre­ated, shared, and used -es­pe­cially when ad­dress­ing com­plex so­ci­et­al chal­lenges in health­care and sustain­ability.

Crowd­sourcing and Crowd Sci­ence
I ana­lyze how crowds of cit­izens, users, and oth­er so­ci­et­al stake­hold­ers out­side tra­di­tion­al in­sti­tu­tions con­trib­ute to sci­entif­ic dis­cov­ery and in­nov­a­tion through crowd­sourcing and com­munity-based ap­proaches.
Inter- and Trans­dis­cip­lin­ary Col­lab­or­a­tion
My re­search ex­plores how act­ors from sci­entif­ic, cor­por­ate, and so­ci­et­al do­mains col­lab­or­ate in joint know­ledge pro­duc­tion - and what struc­tures and or­gan­iz­a­tion­al designs sup­port suc­cess­ful inter- and trans­dis­cip­lin­ary in­teg­ra­tion.

I help link sci­ence, in­nov­a­tion and so­ci­et­al im­pact

I am an Associate Professor of Innovation Management at the Department of Strategy and Innovation at CBS, where I investigate how science and innovation can be organized to address complex societal challenges in areas such as health and sustainability. My research particularly focuses on the processes, effects, and boundary conditions of open and collaborative knowledge production. 

My work has been published in leading academic and practitioner journals such as Management Science, Research Policy, and Harvard Business Review, and has been recognized with multiple awards, including the 2019 TIME Best Paper Award for the most impactful paper published in an INFORMS journal over a five-year period. 

I serve as Chair of the Association for Advancing Science and Innovation, which organizes the annual Open Innovation in Science (OIS) Research Conference. I also founded the Institute for Innovation Capability Building and created the Lab for Open Innovation in Science (LOIS). 

In addition to my academic roles, I act as an advisor, board member, and consultant to organizations across sectors - including companies, research institutions, and policy-making bodies - using research-based approaches to support them in designing innovative strategies, organizational contexts, and processes for transformation. 

I hold a PhD from WU Vienna and have been a visiting scholar at MIT Sloan School of Management, Bocconi University, and ETH Zurich. I am affiliated with the Danish Research Unit for Industrial Dynamics (DRUID), the Academy of Management (AoM), and the Young Global Leaders community of the World Economic Forum (WEF). 

Publications

See all publications

2025

Balancing Societal and Scientific Impact

Investigating the Role of Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) in Medical Research

Paul-Emmanuel Anckaert

Chri­stoph Grim­pe, Head of Department

Ma­rion Po­etz, Associate Professor

Rossella Salandra
Go to publication

2025

The Role of Digital Capabilities in Transforming Crowdsourcing into Innovation Performance

Chri­stoph Grim­pe, Head of Department

Ma­rion Po­etz, Associate Professor

Go to publication

2025

Exploring Professional Identity Transformation of Scientists Through Capability-Building Interventions

Veronika Kentošová

Ma­rion Po­etz, Associate Professor

Go to publication

Links

OIS Re­search Con­fer­ence
Our an­nu­al con­fer­ence unites schol­ars across dis­cip­lines to ex­plore open­ness and col­lab­or­a­tion in sci­ence and in­nov­a­tion
Conference website
OIS Re­search Com­munity Blog
OIS com­munity mem­bers share in­sights on cur­rent work and new pro­jects in open­ness and col­lab­or­a­tion in sci­ence.
Blog articles
How and When to In­volve Crowds in Sci­entif­ic Re­search
Our open ac­cess book etc. guide sci­ent­ists, fun­ders, and policy makers in design­ing and eval­u­at­ing cit­izen sci­ence
Book website
As­so­ci­ation for Ad­van­cing Sci­ence and In­nov­a­tion
Non­profit ad­van­cing sci­ence and in­nov­a­tion by con­nect­ing re­search­ers and fos­ter­ing col­lab­or­a­tion on cut­tingedge pro­jects
Link to website

Outside activities

2030 Green Academy , 2025 -

Aca­dem­ic dir­ect­or ad­van­cing sus­tain­able in­nov­a­tion through open In­nov­a­tion meth­ods & the use of Ar­ti­fi­cial In­tel­li­gence
https://www.2030green.academy

aws Sus­tain­able Food Sys­tems Ini­ti­at­ive , 2024 -

Ad­visor and con­sult­ant en­abling com­munity-based in­nov­a­tion to de­vel­op sus­tain­able pro­jects and trans­form food sys­tems.
https://www.gemeinsamgestalten.at

In­sti­tute for In­nov­a­tion Cap­ab­il­ity Build­ing, , 2018 -

Founder and sci­entif­ic dir­ect­or, help­ing or­gan­iz­a­tions design in­nov­a­tion strategies, con­texts, and pro­cesses.

Ein­stein Cen­ter for Neur­os­cience (ECN) Ber­lin , 2018 - 2023

Pro­gram dir­ect­or at ECN LOIS and OIS Award, fos­ter­ing open, col­lab­or­at­ive prac­tices for neur­os­cience re­search.

What’s Next In­sti­tute , 2018 -

Aca­dem­ic ad­visor, sup­port­ing the de­vel­op­ment of in­nov­a­tion pro­grams and policy re­ports.