18.06.2021Tobias Schlegel successfully defended his doctoral thesis. Congratulations!

His dissertation is titled "The Heterogeneous Impacts of Higher Education Institutions on Innovation, Firm Development and Firm Location".

In his thesis he first investigates effects of Universities of Applied Sciences (UASs) in Switzerland on regional firm development, by introducing a new measure in the form of average profits per firm. Second, he focuses on heterogeneity in effects of UASs on innovation and regional firm location (start-ups or new firms locating in a region), induced by regional economic characteristics.

His results show an improvement of regional firm development in regions with a nearby UAS, an improvement that is mainly driven by increased innovation activities. Furthermore, the analysis of heterogeneities reveals that for positive effects of UASs, a large labor market and a match of the knowledge and human capital produced by UASs with the knowledge requirements of regional industries are necessary preconditions. If these necessary conditions are met, UASs have the potential to positively affect innovation and regional firm location.