APPLICATION-ORIENTATED INNOVATION-
AND FUTURE RESEARCH E.V. – IAIZ –
The IAIZ was founded in 1992 in Berlin as a registered, non-profit making association.
The IAIZ is an independent research and consulting organisation financed entirely by external funds, by subscriptions of its members and by donations.
The research and consulting activities of the IAIZ are centred on the interrelation of social innovation and organisational fitness for the future. Our main question is:
How can organisations act successfully in a dynamic and uncertain environment?
Answering this question, the IAIZ integrates the results of the following disciplines into an unique interdisciplinary approach:
- Social science, especially research on organisation and innovation;
- Psychology of personality, evolutionary biology and neurobiology;
- Research on chaos and complexity.
Starting from its interdisciplinary approach, the IAIZ assumes that organisations which are fit for the future have the following features:
- Openness: Organisations that are fit for the future are able to review dominant patterns of thinking and of organisational culture continuously in terms of their contribution to productivity and innovation, and change them where necessary.
- Diversity: Organisations that are fit for the future are able to concentrate the many talents, skills and needs of their employees productively to develop innovative strategies.
- Sustainability: Organisations that are fit for the future see themselves as part of biophysical systems – that means as an integral part of “nature”. As environmental space is limited, they reduce their consumption of energy and non-renewable, natural resources.
Interdisciplinarity at the IAIZ is always linked with orientation towards application:
- The IAIZ conceptualises and gives advice to organisational development processes at governmental and non-governmental organisations.
- The IAIZ holds lectures, conducts workshops, training and small-group coaching.
- The IAIZ conceptualises and moderates “future workshops” (Zukunftswerkstätten) and open-space events.
- The IAIZ carries out evaluations and policy analyses, scenario and simulation analyses.
the characteristics of organisations that are fit for the future as the point of departure, the main topics of the application-based orientation of the IAIZ are:
- Openness: Information, Innovation and Knowledge Management
- Diversity: Diversity Management, Work-Life Balance
- Sustainability: Ecological Ethics; Independent Regional Development
Based upon our interdisciplinary perspective, all the application-oriented strategies of the IAIZ are always characterised by an approach that takes life as the foundation of all social innovation:
- The IAIZ works on the assumption that a human being is both an animal with specific evolutionary fixed pattern of behaviour and a cultural being able to think about his thinking. Our strategies always start from this interrelation of nature and culture.
- The IAIZ assumes the systemic character of all biophysical and social phenomena: everything is interconnected with everything; if the pattern of relations changes, the phenomenon changes. Therefore our strategies are aimed at changing the patterns of interaction.
- The IAIZ assumes that one of the main characteristics of all life is its ability to self-organise. Therefore our strategies are intended to provide orientational knowledge designed to improve the capacity of protagonists for self-organisation
The clients of the IAIZ include federal and regional ministries, regional governments, local political organisations, equal opportunities organisations, political parties, foundations; interest groups, federations and trade unions; organisations promoting the employment market and the economy, business enterprises, churches, science institutes and educational institutions.
The IAIZ cooperates with universities and independent research, consultancy and education institutes in Germany and abroad.
Organisation of the IAIZ is decentralised – it is “an institute without space”. Since its inception, the IAIZ has predominantly worked with a fixed pool of freelancers, who then work in interdisciplinary teams depending on the topic in question.
The present office of the IAIZ is located in a building constructed in accordance with ecological and energy-efficient standards.
Our decentralised project management allows us both to carry out our research and consultancy work efficiently from the business point of view while also realising precisely the same characteristics that we see as essential for organisations that are fit for the future: openness, diversity and sustainability.
IAIZ e.V.
Postfach 41 02 16
D - 34064 Kassel
Fon: +49 (0)561 / 400 85 340
Fax: +49 (0)561 / 400 85 343
e-mail: IAIZ@IAIZ.de
web: www.iaiz.de