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Fachhochschule des Mittelstands Fachhochschule des Mittelstands
DE

With a passion for SMEs and the skilled trades

Research & Development

Since its foundation, the FHM has focused on a wide range of research and development projects – R&D for short. Small and medium-sized industrial enterprises and the skilled trades form the defining core of its research and development profile. The FHM’s application-oriented research has already been described as ‘impressive’ by the German Science Council; furthermore, the FHM ranks among the universities with the strongest research output in the European Union.

More than 30 European, national and regional projects currently shape the profile of the FHM’s distinctive SME research. We focus on research and development in our eight defined research fields and are constantly developing ideas and concepts for new R&D projects with a national and international focus. Incidentally, the FHM has a comprehensive range of externally funded projects with a total volume of 15 million euros for the period 2021 to 2024. The volume of ongoing third-party funded projects consistently stands at more than 3.5 million euros per year.

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FHM Research & Development

Extensive research into small and medium-sized enterprises

With five current EACEA Strategic Partnerships focusing on practical education and dissemination concepts in the field of sustainability, researchers at the FHM are right on the cutting edge. They are making concrete contributions to the sustainable transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises in industry and the skilled trades, as well as in higher education and vocational training. Innovative ideas and concepts are in high demand within the research field of urban and rural development. The focus is on the innovative design of towns and communities – a unique opportunity to help shape trends for urban society during these extraordinary times. These and many other research fields define the profile of the FHM’s distinctive research into small and medium-sized enterprises.

Institutes and Research Areas at FHM (PNG)

Overview

Key features of research at the FHM

Application-oriented

Research at the FHM focuses on the specific issues and challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises. The findings are directly incorporated into business practice and by economic and social partners.

Profiling

By focusing on issues relevant to small and medium-sized enterprises, the FHM is building up sustainable expertise in this area, which in turn is being applied in follow-up projects and the design of degree programmes.

 

Interdisciplinarity

The interdisciplinary application of knowledge and methods from various disciplines enhances the quality of research findings by fostering a holistic approach.

Internationalisation

Research and development require international collaboration. The FHM has demonstrated its international expertise in numerous projects and is constantly building on it.

Background information & organisation

Things to know

  • We have integrated the research fields of the German government's High-Tech Strategy 2025 and the Europe 2030 strategy into our research and development concept. Under the premise of SME relevance for business, society and science, we continuously define and incorporate further interdisciplinary topics.
     
  • In annual conferences and regular working group meetings, we reflect on and adjust our research activities, which also serves to promote interdisciplinary exchange and the development of interdisciplinary projects.
     
  • Our professors advocate their individual fields of research while respecting the freedom of science and research and publish scientific publications and lectures in this context. The FHM provides a supportive infrastructure for this - for example through the FHM publication series, meetings or conferences.
     
  • An integral part of applied research is the new and further development of FHM degree programs. Our university lecturers continuously develop SME-oriented curricula, courses and lecture materials - always with the aim of providing our students with adequate academic training as specialists and managers for SMEs. 
     
  • FHM students are actively involved in research and development issues and make an important contribution to current research questions through business-related project work, Bachelor's and Master's theses.
     
  • Since its inception, the FHM has acquired endowed professorships for the further thematic development of the university. Endowed professorships are endowed with human and material resources. Successful endowed professorships are continued with the FHM's own funds after the funding ends.
     
  • The FHM is involved in projects that implement innovative and innovation-promoting ideas and concepts on an international level. The transnational exchange between academics, economic and political players makes a significant contribution to ensuring that international innovation approaches enter the regional economic, scientific and information cycle and thus strengthen the innovative power of the university and its regional partners.
     
  • The FHM is involved in a large number of international Erasmus+ projects in the program lines Strategic Partnerships in Higher Education, Strategic Partnerships in Vocational Education and Training, Strategic Partnerships in Adult Education, Knowledge Alliances and Capacity Building in Higher Education.
     
  • As early as 2006, we made our application-oriented SME research an overarching topic with the “Practical Handbook for SMEs” (Krüger, W., Klippstein, G., Merk, R., Wittberg, V. (eds.), Gabler-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006) and presented an orientation framework for the formulation of project ideas and applications.

But what is it that makes FHM Research so consistently successful at its core? It is our colleagues, who have been passionately committed to their work for many years, our stable partnerships, and our consistent research focus.

Prof. Dr. Volker Wittberg, Vice-Rector for Research and Development

Our areas of research

Topics that shape our research

Security

The research focus on digitalization has long been an area to which the FHM has dedicated itself. The topic is particularly important for SMEs - the FHM is addressing digitalization as a permanent challenge for the SME sector, for example, with the new edition of the NRW Digitalization Index.

Health & Social Affairs

The health industry has been a growth area for years. The department of Human Resources, Health & Social Affairs is now one of the largest at the University of Applied Sciences for SMEs, with topics including psychology, social work, social pedagogy, midwifery, vocational school pedagogy, and nursing & management.

Education & Competences

Germany's schools need to become more digital. This concerns both the technical equipment and the qualification of teaching staff. The Fachhochschule des Mittelstands (FHM) has been active in research and development in this area for many years and acts as a consultant for state and federal ministries as well as within the Federal-State Commission on Education Chains.

Sustainability

The concept of sustainability is now widely recognized in society, politics and business. Sustainability is a (survival) condition of humanity and, as an existential responsibility for the future, is a global ethical imperative.

Regional Development

With the research topic of city, country and mobility, the FHM is taking up a current research field of the German government's high-tech strategy and focussing on the regional, spatial aspects of the innovative strength of SMEs.

Entrepreneurship

Since its foundation in 2000, FHM has been promoting the start-up idea among its students – among other things, through the business start-up module.

Future technologies

Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Augmented Reality und Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) finden Eingang in Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft, Wissenschaft und Bildung. Sie revolutionieren viele Bereiche, was in absehbarer Zeit extreme Auswirkungen auf Unternehmen, die Industrie und die Hochschulbildung haben wird.

Institutes of the FHM

Center of Sustainable Governance (CSG)

Das FHM-Center for Sustainable Governance (CSG) konnte als Stiftungsinstitut der ostwestfälisch-lippischen Wirtschaft und Verwaltung (Dr. Oetker, Dr. Bernhard von Schubert, Bankverein Werther, Schloss und Gut Wendlinghausen, Stiftung Bildung und Handwerk und Kreis Lippe) eingerichtet werden.

National Center for Bureaucracy Cost Reduction (NZBA)

The National Center for Bureaucracy Cost Reduction (NZBA) has found its identity since 2007 in measuring bureaucracy costs for the norm addressees of business and enforcement administration.

School of Start-up and Succession

Die School of Start-up & Succession hat die Aufgabe, Unternehmensgründung und –nachfolge sowie die Businessplanentwicklung für alle Studierende der FHM anwendbar zu machen.

Institute for Cybersecurity and Digital Innovation Düren

With funding from the district of Düren, the Fachhochschule des Mittelstands (FHM) and the British University of Gloucestershire (Cheltenham and Gloucester, UK) are establishing a joint institute for cyber security and digital innovation in Düren.

Institute for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (IfM)

Das FHM-Institut für den Mittelstand (IfM) hat die Mittelstandsförderung auf regionaler, deutschlandweiter und europäischer Ebene zum Ziel. Angestrebt wird ein Standardsetting für angewandte Mittelstandsforschung, welches der Realität der mittelständischen Unternehmen in Deutschland Rechnung trägt.

Institute for Sports Communication (IfS)

Sport ist einer unserer wichtigsten alltagskulturellen Begleiter. Er ist in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten national und international zu einem bedeutsamen medialen, ökonomisch relevanten und gesellschaftlich zentralen Phänomen herangewachsen.

Institute for Culture and the Creative Industries (IKK)

Sport ist einer unserer wichtigsten alltagskulturellen Begleiter. Er ist in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten national und international zu einem bedeutsamen medialen, ökonomisch relevanten und gesellschaftlich zentralen Phänomen herangewachsen.

Institute for Decarbonisation with a focus on hydrogen

Sport ist einer unserer wichtigsten alltagskulturellen Begleiter. Er ist in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten national und international zu einem bedeutsamen medialen, ökonomisch relevanten und gesellschaftlich zentralen Phänomen herangewachsen.

German-Asian Institute for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (DAMI)

The German-Asian Institute of Mid-sized Business (DAMI) is a part of the FHM - University of Applied Science. The DAMI was founded in 2005.

Institute for Continuing Education & Skills Development

As the FHM’s centre for continuing education and knowledge transfer, the Institute for Continuing Education and Skills Development (IWK) is committed to making the findings of science and research accessible to your professional practice through our continuing education programmes.

Institute for Health in the District of Waldshut

Health regions and networks in the health care system are currently an essential part of regional health care and health care for the population.

F&E-Annual Report

Download Research & Development Annual Reports

Overview: All current projects and institutes

Research projects and institutes at the FHM

FHM publications

Stark in der Publikation

Our R&D-Team

Forschung & Entwicklung - wir sind gerne für Sie da

Wissenschaftsrat
FIBAA
Akkreditierungsrat
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Stiftung Bildung & Handwerk
Verband der Privaten Hochschulen e.V.

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