Between Local and European Imaginaries of Innovation

2 Master Theses - “On Becoming an iCapital” & “On Becoming a Capital of Culture”

23.01.2025, Diplomarbeiten, Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten

The Regional Innovation Cultures team in the ISPP research group at the Department of Science, Technology and Society is looking for two students who are interested in writing their master's thesis on the socio-political, cultural, and economic embedding of past and current EU Innovation Capitals and Capitals of Culture.

The theses will respectively investigate the process of the “iCapital” and the Capitals of Culture competition from the perspective of cities that have been selected in the past or are currently running as participants. Drawing on the analytical framework of regional innovation cultures and the lens of sociotechnical imaginaries, the research wants to investigate the simultaneous making of a city’s local innovation/creative alter on the one side, and the supra-national performance of a European innovation/creative agenda on the other. It is thus interested in understanding how innovation/creative culture imperatives are mobilized both for the process of Europeanization and the local translation of the respective cities. The theses will explore the hopes, expectations and disappointments attached to the innovation/creative culture label as important propellor for local and regional (structural) transformations and critically ask what it means for a city’s socioeconomic policy agenda and the local identity to be confronted with metrified and standardized evaluations of worthwhile innovation/creative culture, cross-city competition, and funding logics.

Requirements:

- You are part of the STS or RESET master’s program

- You have experience with qualitative research methods, including interviews and ethnography, and are willing to conduct fieldwork in the respective cities

- You have worked with MaxQDA or are willing to learn how to navigate the program

- Since some of the cities are located in Germany, understanding the German language is an advantage but not a requirement



Offer:

- Mentorship and guidance by two PhD members of the Regional Innovation Cultures team

- Collaboration with senior members of ISPP

- Openness towards your own research interests and creative research methods

Kontakt: cindy.rentrop@tum.de; nadine.osbild@tum.de

More Information

https://www.sts.sot.tum.de/sts/arbeitsgruppen/innovation-society-public-policy-innovationsforschung/