Irene Bertschek
Head of Research Unit ‘Digital Economy’ at ZEW Mannheim and professor of Economics of Digitalisation at the University of Giessen,
Irene Bertschek is head of the ‘Digital Economy’ research unit at the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim and professor of Economics of Digitalisation at Justus Liebig University Giessen. She is also deputy chair of the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI), advising the Federal German government.
After studying economics at the University of Mannheim (Diploma) and the Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium (Master of Arts), majoring in econometrics and industrial economics, Dr. Irene Bertschek received her doctorate from the Université catholique de Louvain as part of the European Doctoral Programme. During this time, she undertook research assignments at CREST-INSEE in Paris and at the Humboldt University Berlin. She has been working at the ZEW since 1999. From 2011 to 2017, she was Professor of Applied Empirical Economic Research at the University of Mannheim. Her research focuses on how digitalization changes economic processes and how it affects the productivity and innovation behaviour of businesses.
Irene Bertschek works on numerous national and international economic research projects. She contributes her expertise to high-ranking advisory bodies for science and politics. She is, among other things, vice-president of the steering group of the Swiss National Science Foundation’s National Science Programme ‘Digital Change’ and a member of the Learning Systems Platform at acatech, the German Academy of Science and Engineering. Since 2022, she has also been a member of the Federal Chancellor’s Future Council, which makes proposals to strengthen resilience and technological sovereignty in key enabling technologies and in digitalisation.