Mission Statement
We generally seek to analyse and improve the communication within systems in which complex knowledge is created, shared, and applied, hence the focus on science and innovation. We particularly see communication as a change agent for sustainability transitions in all of their four dimensions: a transformation towards systems that are both socially and culturally, ecologically and economically more sustainable.
Our applied-fundamental research on co-creating science and innovation with stakeholders, aims at improving these various discourses – an area that has increasingly been framed as ‘Social Innovation’.
Structure
inscico was founded in 2010 as an extramural research institute out of Fraunhofer in Berlin, originally for profit but soon converted into a non-profit (fully acknowledged by the German tax authorities and all relevant public and private research funding organisations).
The institute has never received any regular institutional funding, neither from public nor private sources, but has always relied exclusively on contract research, tendered / funded projects and consulting services. Its shares have always been held by a few committed individuals, and never by any companies or interest groups, which makes us comparatively independent.
The Team
inscico is being jointly managed by Co-founder Alexander Gerber as Research Director (Full Professor of Science Communication at Rhine-Waal University, NRW/Germany) and Bernd Müller as Managing Director (originally a physicist, then a trained journalist and innovation manager). The second co-founder, Dino Trescher, has a background in science journalism and science marketing.
Compared to research institutions in the public-sector, such as universities but also extramural RTOs, the team structure at inscico responds much more flexibly to current project needs: Most technical experts and senior research fellows are employed temporarily for several months or a few years. In recent years, the team comprised renowned experts such as Dr. Eric Jensen (author of “Doing Real Research”), Prof. Dr. Brady Wagoner (Cultural Psychology), Dr. Jennifer Metcalfe (Acting President of PCST), Dr. Peter Broks (author of “Understanding Popular Science”), Prof. Dr. Julia Lorke (Biology Didactics).
As of spring 2023, we are particularly grateful to our industrious team in the EU-funded ‘Green Deal’ project AURORA: social media manager Johannes Bopp, software systems and web design coordinator Lars Lorenz, media designer Daniela Martin, film producers Anna Pesavento and Birte Gerstenkorn, and editor Lali van Zuydam. We are planning to launch a website with all staff profiles.