The IEB has made it a priority to research the process of change as well as to show the opportunities and limits of electronic commerce. The increasing mergence of media and use situations demands a permanent re-thinking of how e-business works.

The IEB conducts application-oriented research at the interface of research and commerce that investigates new luK-Technologies and their related markets, develops business models for these technologies, and sees through their implementation in corporate practice.

The focal points for research are determined by the sustaining members as well as the Institute’s Board of Trustees and are critically appraised in regular meetings of the academic council.

(Status March 2013)

The world of e-business has changed radically in the last few years. The convergence of media, the growing together of various media and technologies, still retains enormous potential for improved communication and constantly opens up new market opportunities. Just as significant as these opportunities is the challenge to utilize commercially the growing complexity of technologies. Here the real net output ratio of digital goods and services must be identified and evaluated, and business methods must be geared toward the new requirements.

Research at IEB is the methodical and systematic search for new knowledge and solutions with a concrete application.

• "Why is something like it is?"
• "Why is something not like it could be?"
• "How can something become what it should be?"

• Which devices are or will be important?
• Which services are currently being used on which devices?
• How high is the predicted acceptance of these services/products by the users?
• Which business models function and which do not?
  How will the market develop?
• What combination of services/devices is optimal for the specific initial situation of a field or a concrete company?

The IEB dedicates itself to current research issues and since the beginning of 2008 has been bundling its know-how in IEB Competence Centers to assure a greater intensity of research and professional project management.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Schildhauer (schildhauerieb.net)