Given that only an ability to drive continuous innovation will guarantee future economic growth and prosperity for Germany, the former German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, and over 25 partners from the business and scientific communities, inaugurated the initiative "Partners for Innovation" in 2004. More than 300 experts are working on tangible innovation projects and on creating a public culture of innovation. The new German government has decided to continue the initiative as noted in the coalition contract of the ruling parties.

Innovation in services and its importance for economic growth deserve much higher attention in academia as well as in business. In particular, knowledge-intensive service industries need a multidisciplinary bundling of skills and knowledge from various fields and disciplines. Innovative and complex solutions require closer collaboration between different academic disciplines including management, marketing, computer science, sociology, psychology, and mathematics. Furthermore, new approaches of cooperation between academia and practice should be implemented. This trans-disciplinary approach is the focus of both our “Services Science” initiative and this conference. Our intention is to promote the establishment of a Services Science practice in Germany.

With our intense full-day program, we want to stimulate the discussion and sharpen the understanding of the requirements for academia and industry. We believe that the conference will be of interest to you and that it will benefit from your background and experience. We are looking forward to welcoming you in Ingolstadt.

Best Regards,