en: News

A conference at the French Ministry of Economy and Finance highlighted the opportunities and challenges of the energy transition using agri-photovoltaics as an example. More than 100 experts from France and Germany took part, including representatives of the Thünen Institute.

From October 14 to 16, 2025, Makerere University in Kampala (Uganda) hosted a PhD workshop under the umbrella of the project “Land Acquisitions and Rising Land Inequalities in Rural East Africa” (LARLIREA), with active participation from the Thünen Institute.

The study explains which organizations are driving the development of digital technologies in Germany and what influence their spatial environment has.

Cover of the Journal Technological Forecasting and Social Change

Co-edited by Christian Hundt, the new volume stemming from the Loccum conference examines how politics can improve the conditions for rural entrepreneurship—driving economic activity, innovation, and vital public services.

Cover of the Conference proceedings on Start-ups in rural areas - Loccumer Protokolle 27/2025

At the closing event of the series “Municipalities in Dialogue: Actively Shaping the Energy Transition,” Dominik Frankenberg delivered a keynote speech on the opportunities and challenges of the energy transition for rural regions, following an invitation from the BMLEH.

Keynote Address on “How Rural Regions Shape and Benefit from the Energy Transition”

On October 30, 2025, Anna Kremer successfully defended her dissertation titled “Identity in Spatial Economics” at the Technical University of Dresden.

On November 6, 2025, our colleague Franziska Lengerer successfully completed her doctoral studies at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands).

The persons mentioned in the caption dressed in festive gowns.

At the invitation of the IHK of Osnabrück Petrik Runst discussed current trends and challenges facing rural economies. His presentation showed that the economic potential of regions beyond metropolitan areas is often underestimated.

Petrik Runst at the event ‘Current Challenges in Commercial Space Development’ organised by the IHK Osnabrück.

On October 6, 2025, Alexander Kopka successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Artificial Intelligence in Technological Spaces” at the University of Bremen and was awarded the highest grade of summa cum laude.

Alexander Kopka defending his doctoral thesis at the University of Bremen.

It is often assumed that entrepreneurs with prior founding experience are more successful than first-time founders. However, the research findings of Christian Bergholz and Petrik Runst challenge this assumption.