20.11.2009 Messe Frankfurt endowed professorship gives new impulses for science and economics

Inaugural lecture by Prof. Matthias Schündeln

Professor Matthias Schündeln gave his inaugural lecture on the subject of “Developmental economics research on enterprises: contents and methods” yesterday evening in the festival hall of the Goethe University Casino. The University has appointed Professor Schündeln to the Messe Frankfurt Endowed Chair of International Economic Politics and with his appointment has managed to bring a worldwide acknowledged economics expert from Harvard to Frankfurt.

The endowed professorship marks the beginning of a new form of cooperation between Messe Frankfurt and Goethe University. With this professorship, unique in Germany, a new research field is opened and on this basis new impulses will be given for science and economics. This professorship in the faculty of economic sciences was endowed on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first post-war Frankfurt export trade fair, which was opened by Ludwig Erhard on 3rd October 1948.

In his inaugural lecture, Professor Schündeln spoke on the subject of enterprises in developing and emerging countries, with a focus on exemplifying  modern methods of empirical economic research. These were illustrated by three questions: What effect can be expected from the training programmes – widespread in the field of development cooperation – for small entrepreneurs? Does the global financial crisis also affect enterprises in developing countries? Do trade fairs in developing countries play a role in the spread of new technologies?

Speaking first at this academic ceremony, Michael von Zitzewitz, CEO of Messe Frankfurt, said: “With this endowed professorship, Goethe University and Messe Frankfurt build a bridge between academic research and international trade fair economics in practice.” Messe Frankfurt has played a key role over the past decades in the increasingly global orientation of the German trade fair economy. After 800 years of trade fair experience in Frankfurt, Messe Frankfurt is convinced that the traditional trade fair will still be here in 2050 and that it will continue to be a benchmark for entire sectors and industries. But fine calibration of the instruments is essential and the trade fair industry is looking more and more to the precise sciences.

“An endowed professorship dealing scientifically with the issue of trade fairs is an ideal match to Frankfurt as a centre of higher education with its economic sciences tradition,” said University President Professor Werner Müller-Esterl. He also believes that the achievement of enticing the economics scientist Schündeln (39) from Harvard University to Frankfurt is a clear statement in favour of the high teaching and research quality at the Economic Sciences Faculty at Goethe University. “Although a brain drain in sciences may be feared elsewhere, over the past years we have already managed to bring many outstanding fellow academics from abroad to Frankfurt. This very obviously underlines the quality of the framework conditions for sciences at Goethe University,” said Professor Müller-Esterl.

Frankfurt City Councillor Dr. Lutz Raettig described the engagement by Messe Frankfurt at Goethe University as further evidence for the anchorage of the University in the city and its society: “Frankfurt and its people are proud of their university, and the traditional dedication of citizens and enterprises domiciled here has been the decisive factor why Germany’s  first and today’s largest endowment university has developed in Frankfurt.”

Person
Prof. Matthias Schündeln firstly studied mathematics and geography in Cologne, and then economic sciences in Cologne and Yale, where he achieved his doctorate with a dissertation on the subject ›Firm Dynamics in the Presence of Financing Constraints: Ghanaian Manufacturing‹.

As from 2004, Schündeln was Assistant Professor of Economics and Social Studies at Harvard University and worked there in the field of application-oriented micro-economics. In his dissertation, he had already dealt with the effects of financing constraints on firm dynamics in developing countries. Further works were concerned with the promotion of entrepreneurial talent for development purposes or with the causes of divergences between private and social yields from human capital.

Information: Prof. Matthias Schündeln, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Campus Westend, Tel: (069) 798-34796, office .schuendeln wiwi .uni -frankfurt .de

Markus Quint, Messe Frankfurt, Tel: (069) 7575-5905,
pr ess messefrankfurt .com

 

Goethe University is a strongly research-oriented higher education institute in the European financial metropolis Frankfurt. Founded by Frankfurt citizens 94 years ago, it is today one of Germany’s ten major universities. On 1 January 2008, Goethe University gained a unique measure of independence with the return to its historic roots as a civic endowment university. One of the finest campuses in Germany is currently being created around the historic Poelzig building ensemble in Frankfurt’s Westend quarter with a total investment of around EUR 600 million. Goethe University takes a leading position in Germany with more than 50 endowed professorships and guest professorships acquired since 2000. Three research rankings by the CHE in succession and the excellence initiative show Goethe University to be one of the most powerful research universities.

Messe Frankfurt is the largest German trade fair enterprise with EUR 440 million turnover (2008) and more than 1,500 employees worldwide. The group has a global network of 28 subsidiary companies, five branch establishments and 52 international distribution partners. Messe Frankfurt is onsite for its customers in more than 150 countries. Events “Made by Messe Frankfurt” take place at more than 30 locations all over the world. In 2008, Messe Frankfurt organised more than 100 trade fairs, over half of them abroad. Standing on 578,000 square metres of grounds, Messe Frankfurt currently has ten exhibition halls and an adjoining congress center annex. The enterprise is in public ownership with the city of Frankfurt holding 60 percent and the state of Hessen 40 percent.

Contact
Messe Frankfurt GmbH
Markus Quint
Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage 1
60327 Frankfurt
Tel. +49 69 75 75-59 05
Fax +49 69 75 75-58 83
pr ess messefrankfurt .com
www.messefrankfurt.com