Innovation Management 4.0

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Johann Füller

Johann Füller is Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Innsbruck. Before taking up his professorship, Johann Füller was a Fellow at the NASA Tournament Lab Research at Harvard University and a Visiting Scholar and Research Affiliate at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research interests include Artificial Intelligence, Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Business Incubation, Digitalization, and Sustainability.

Johann has published numerous articles in leading academic journals such as California Management Review, Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, Marketing Science, MIS Quarterly, Research Policy, and many others. He has received several awards, including the 2015 Best Paper Award from the Journal of Interactive Marketing and the 2015 Case Center Award for his Harvard Business Review case study on “Open Innovation @ Siemens.” According to the Composite Citation Index, Johann is among the top 2% of researchers in his main field.

Johann initiated the innovation and startup hub “INNCUBATOR.AT” at the University of Innsbruck and the Tyrolean Chamber of Commerce. He also initiated the interdisciplinary extension studies in Entrepreneurship and is a co-founder of the Innsbruck doctoral program “System Innovation for a Net-Zero Transition.”

Alongside his academic career, Johann is also passionate about entrepreneurship and management. He co-founded HYVE AG and served as its CEO for more than 20 years before selling the company to Qvest AG. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of Qvest Digital AG and a board member of WHITE ROOM, a CEO leadership club. Johann is an investor and advisor to several startups, including Icaros, Tawny, and Unbound. He is also a Senior Advisor to Raiffeisen Regenerative, a corporate venture of Raiffeisen.

Furthermore, Johann has served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the University of Vaasa and as a member of the Board of Trustees of Skoltech University. Johann enjoys supporting organizations in becoming more innovative, sustainable, and entrepreneurial.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Johann Füller

Johann Füller is Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Innsbruck. Before taking up his professorship, Johann Füller was a Fellow at the NASA Tournament Lab Research at Harvard University and a Visiting Scholar and Research Affiliate at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research interests include Artificial Intelligence, Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Business Incubation, Digitalization, and Sustainability.

Johann has published numerous articles in leading academic journals such as California Management Review, Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, Marketing Science, MIS Quarterly, Research Policy, and many others. He has received several awards, including the 2015 Best Paper Award from the Journal of Interactive Marketing and the 2015 Case Center Award for his Harvard Business Review case study on “Open Innovation @ Siemens.” According to the Composite Citation Index, Johann is among the top 2% of researchers in his main field.

Johann initiated the innovation and startup hub “INNCUBATOR.AT” at the University of Innsbruck and the Tyrolean Chamber of Commerce. He also initiated the interdisciplinary extension studies in Entrepreneurship and is a co-founder of the Innsbruck doctoral program “System Innovation for a Net-Zero Transition.”

Alongside his academic career, Johann is also passionate about entrepreneurship and management. He co-founded HYVE AG and served as its CEO for more than 20 years before selling the company to Qvest AG. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of Qvest Digital AG and a board member of WHITE ROOM, a CEO leadership club. Johann is an investor and advisor to several startups, including Icaros, Tawny, and Unbound. He is also a Senior Advisor to Raiffeisen Regenerative, a corporate venture of Raiffeisen.

Furthermore, Johann has served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the University of Vaasa and as a member of the Board of Trustees of Skoltech University. Johann enjoys supporting organizations in becoming more innovative, sustainable, and entrepreneurial.

Dr. Julian Just

Julian has been a postdoctoral researcher in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship team at the Department of Management and Marketing at the University of Innsbruck since August 2023. Since 2020, his doctoral research project within the same team has focused on the impact of Natural Language Processing (NLP) on front-end innovation activities. His PhD project examines the effects of AI technologies on innovation process management and problem-solving. In his research, he applies quantitative methods such as text analysis and experiments. Julian has published in academic journals including Technovation, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, R&D Management, and Innovation: Organization and Management. His research stays have taken him to Harvard Business School and ESSEC Business School. He has taught various courses, including Innovation Management, Entrepreneurship, Innovation Diffusion, as well as Business and Data Analytics.

Since 2025, he has been working at the AI Factory Austria at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Innsbruck. As an AI and innovation expert, his main role is to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and practical application through workshops and direct collaboration projects with companies.

Julian holds Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Graz. He then completed a Master’s degree in Strategic Management at the University of Innsbruck. During his studies, he spent semesters abroad in Norway and Taiwan. Before starting his academic career, he gained professional experience at HYVE, a Munich-based consultancy specializing in open and user-centered innovation.

Robert Schimpf, BSc MSc

Robert Schimpf has been leading the innovation and startup hub of the University of Innsbruck and the Tyrolean Chamber of Commerce (InnCubator) since its opening in 2016. In his role, he supports aspiring entrepreneurs from the initial business idea through to the development of a first prototype and first customer contacts. He acts as an interface between expert knowledge, talent, and new business ideas. His particular strengths lie in the areas of idea generation, business model development, strategy, and innovation management. In addition, Robert Schimpf is the program coordinator for the University of Innsbruck’s Entrepreneurship Extension Studies. Through this role, he brings the latest research findings into practice and integrates practical experience into university teaching.