Prof. Dr. Frederik Ahlemann’s Chair of Information Systems and Strategic IT Management will cooperate with the municipal company Wirtschaftsbetriebe Duisburg AöR (WBD) from the start of next year. The cooperation’s objective is to support the WBD conceptionally with the realization of digitization initiatives. Prof. Ahlemann and several research assistants will work closely with WBD staff. The focus will be on creating a digital agenda, as well as strategies and business models, the development of a digitization department, and professional support for digital transformation in general. As part of this cooperation, the SITM Chair is also expanding its activities as part of the City of Duisburg’s Smart City Initiative. 

The Wirtschaftsbetriebe Duisburg are responsible, among other things, for waste management, urban drainage and purification, maintenance of the urban green areas, cemeteries and their crematoria, maintenance of urban infrastructure, water maintenance, flood protection, as well as training, qualification, further training, retraining, and support for unemployed young people, long-term unemployed workers, and welfare recipients on the regional job market.

Since 2012, the Chair of Information Systems and Strategic IT Management has dealt extensively with issues related to companies and institutions’ digital transformation. This not only includes the development and evaluation of process models, methods, and tools that support IT’s successful management, but we also investigate the behavior of and effects on people interacting with these artifacts. In order to ensure our research results’ applicability and sustainable benefit, the chair works closely with companies and public institutions.