The Chair of Sport and Health Management organized the 22nd annual congress of the Working Group of Sport Economics. From May 24 to 26, approximately 80 scientists as well as students participated in the congress. "We are very content with the process. We set new accents and our concept directed toward sustainability was also convincing," concludes Prof. Dr. Jörg Königstorfer, the full professor at the Chair of Sport and Health Management.
Topic: Innovative economics and innovative management
For the congress, Prof. Königstorfer and his team selected the motto "Innovative Economics and Innovative Management in Sports". In his keynote, Prof. Dr. Johann Füller (Leopold-Franzens-University Innsbruck) presented a comprehensive introduction to the topic saying, "The new norm of innovation is disruption in the sport industry". Aside from his research and teaching activities, Prof. Füller heads the "Hyve" company in München, which has specialized in the management of innovations.
"The keynote clearly demonstrated the three topics which point the way and will be instrumental in the coming decade: Digitization, the handling of Big DATA and the opening of management to an intensified co-operation between disciplines," explains Professor Königstorfer. For sport economics, these three topics represent new challenges.
In the past years, the disciplines have differentiated themselves increasingly. Research, for example, dedicates itself to the development and statistical examination of models, to marketing or the sport associations. The three megatopics, however, have only rarely been taken into consideration so far, states Königstorfer. "Our task as scientists is to supply and point out answers here as to which possibilities exist and how these developments in management should be used," explains Prof. Königstorfer.
A change in perspective: US-research traditions
A change in perspective was provided in the second keynote held by Prof. Dr. Jason Bocarro (North Carolina State University). "The American research tradition within the field of management differs from the European approaches with different details," says Königstorfer. For example, the presentation style is different, while research and research promotion are directed more intensively on finding the actual answer of a concrete, socially relevant question. For various participants who had so far primarily been concerned with the German research tradition, this represents a new impulse, according to Königstorfer.
The next annual convention in 2019 will be organized by the University of Jena.
To the Homepage of the Chair of Sport and Health Management
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Jörg Königstorfer
Chair of Sport and Health Management
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60/62
80992 Munich
Tel.: 089 289 24559
E-Mail: Joerg.Koenigstorfer(at)tum.de
Text: Fabian Kautz
Photos: Jan Milan Meyer