2010 - ERCIS

Dear fellow ERCIS
partners and interested
readers of this report,
The year draws to a close and I think
we all had an exciting research year
with a lot of new projects, publications,
co-operations and ideas for further
conjoint activities. This report
is the second one of its kind and is
packed with interesting, up-to-date
news from most of our partners. It also
contains additional information about
several ERCIS network activities.
This passing year has been quite
eventful. In order to foster our collaborative
research activities, we had
a very fruitful meeting in Vaduz, Liechtenstein,
where eight ERCIS partners
came together to discuss and develop
conjoint research and teaching strategies
for the future. A detailed description
of the results of this meeting can
be found in the report.
We hope to be able to arrange such
a network meeting every year, and our
partners from the BEM already offered
to host the next one. I would be very
happy to see the network in Bordeaux
next spring! So save the date, it will
take place April 9, 2011!
We’ve had successful research proposals
such as the just-started research
project Networked Service Society,
funded by the German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research.
Within the scope of this project, the
University of Münster, the Queensland
University of Technology, the KAI-
ST College of Information and Science
and the University of Waikato will contribute
to theory and to the innovative
design of artifacts in three decisive
areas of service research, namely professionalization,
digitalization, and
sustainability. This project once again
shows that ERCIS is a living network
and that we are on the right track for
constant excellent collaborative research.
Another ERCIS activity
this year was
the proposal for the
EU-funded research
project ENHANCE.
Here, several ERCIS
partners, namely the
University of Münster,
the Hochschule Liechtenstein,
the University
of Gdansk, the
Kaunas University of
Technology, the Higher
School of Economics,
and the University
of Maribor cooperated with seven additional
universities from the Austral-
Asian and European region. The idea
of the ERASMUS Mundus II proposal
was to support students coming to Europe
by providing an IT infrastructure
to enhance the quality of information
about courses of participating universities
and to simplify the recognition
process of exams. Although the
proposal was rejected, the reviewers
liked the general idea and proposed
to resubmit, which will happen in the
next couple of months.
Alongside these research activities,
I would like to welcome our new partners
from Nizhny Novgorod, a branch
of the Higher School of Economics
(HSE) in Moscow. This year was very
eventful concerning the conjoint activities
of the HSE and the University
of Münster, since a double-Master
cooperation treaty was signed as a
result of the project TEMPUS POMBI,
allowing students from both ERCIS
partners to study in Moscow, Nizhny
Novgorod and Münster respectively.
There are a lot of further ideas for
the support and development of the
ERCIS network, and in order to get all
these things done, the ERCIS team
was established during the last year.
Apart from Dr. Armin Stein, who was
introduced last year as new ERCIS
coordinator, Katrin Bergener, Sara
Hofmann, and Marcel Heddier are cur-
rently working with him on several enhancements
concerning the network.
This spans improvement of the ERCIS
website and exchange possibilities
such as summer schools, compact
courses, invited talks, etc. If you have
any questions, requests, further ideas,
or recommendations concerning the
ERCIS network, please feel free to contact
the team! You’ll find their contact
details in this report, and they will
be very happy to get feedback from
around the world.
This leaves me to extend best wishes
for a pleasant and peaceful Christmas
time and a happy New Year for you and
your families. I am looking forward to
seeing you all in Bordeaux next year
for another interesting meeting and a
lively exchange of knowledge within
the network, since we all know that
“the whole is often greater than the
sum of its parts” (Aristotle).
All the best,
Jörg Becker
Academic Director of ERCIS
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