Before joining the E&I team in 2021, Jakob completed his doctoral studies at the Technical University Berlin, where he also worked as a research associate and taught courses on innovation economics, sustainable innovation, open innovation, and strategic standardization and platform management. Jakob holds a master’s degree in Statistics from the Humboldt University of Berlin and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Technical University Berlin. During his masters, he co-founded a company that develops products for highly automated driving to pave the way for autonomous valet parking.

Jakob's research focuses on open and user innovation. More specifically, Jakob investigates how firms can leverage the potential of crowds in various contexts to increase their innovativeness.