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I am a professor in innovation, entrepreneurship and economic geography. A trained MBA with a Ph.D. in business economics, I have obtained a German habilitation degree (HDR, full-professor qualification) in economic geography and a secondary Norwegian professorship qualification in innovation.
I offer university-level teaching and research in entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainable development.
I am from the Greater region Saar-Lor-Lux in the heart of Europe, at the borders of Luxembourg, France and Germany. Currently, I live and work in South-Eastern Norway.
Contact me at Researchgate or by Email birgit (dot) leick (at) mailbox (dot) org
My current research fields are the following:
The nexus of entrepreneurial firms and the regional economy
Current projects: Rural entrepreneurship in the creative economy; Entrepreneurship and ageing; Digital entrepreneurship in the Nordic sharing economy; Airbnb hosts and tourism entrepreneurship; Institutional entrepreneurship and small firms; Sustainability entrepreneurs in regional context.
Business networks and industrial clusters: their management and governance
Current projects: Barriers to collaboration in cross-border business networks; Network brokers and their governance in business networks/industrial clusters; Emerging social capital and stakeholder engagement in cross-border projects; Knowledge-sharing in business networks; International business incubators in BRIC countries.
Other research fields:
Regional economic development (demographic change, rural-peripheral regions, cross-border regions)
Leadership and management (academic leadership)
Current position:
2021-present: Full Professor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of South-Eastern Norway, School of Business, Department of Business and IT, Campus Bø, Norway.
Teaching (master, bachelor) and research in innovation/entrepreneurship/regional development.
Coordination of master programme development tasks for the "Innovation and entrepreneurship" group in the department (2020-2021).
Representative head of USN Business School's research group "Sustainability Management" (2022-2023).
Member of the programme committee "Master of Sustainability Management" in USN Business School (2021-2024).
Member of USN PhD Recruitment Committee (representative member, 2022-2024).
Previous positions:
2020-2021: Associate Professor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of South-Eastern Norway, School of Business, Department of Business and IT, Campus Bø, Norway. Main tasks see current position.
2017-2020: Associate Professor in Business Economics at Østfold University College, Faculty of Business, Languages, and Social Sciences, Norway.
Teaching (bachelor) and research in business economics/management/entrepreneurship/regional development.
Founder and leader of the research group "Business Development and Governance" (2018-2020).
Programme co-ordinator for bachelor study programmes in business and economics (2017-2020) and accounting (2019-2020).
Member of the Research and Development Committee in the faculty.
Member of the Committee for Educational Quality in the faculty.
Coordinator for international students (outgoing/incoming).
2016-present: Research fellow, Centre for Regional Economic Development-CRED, University of Bern (Switzerland): Research in rural entrepreneurship with CRED.
2013-2017: Assistant Professor in Economic Geography, University of Bayreuth, Faculty of Geosciences, Biology and Chemistry, Department of Economic Geography, Germany.
Teaching (master, bachelor, Ph.D.) and research in economic geography/entrepreneurship and regional development.
Member of the Senate of University of Bayreuth (2015-2017).
Member of the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Geosciences, Biology and Chemistry (2015-2017).
Coordinator for international students (outgoing/incoming).
2009-2012: Senior Lecturer in Economic Geography, University of Bayreuth, Faculty of Geosciences, Biology and Chemistry, Department of Economic Geography, Germany. Main tasks see above.
2003-2006: Lecturer and doctoral student in international economics/business, Freiberg University of Technology and Mining, Faculty of Business and Economics, Germany
Teaching and research in economics/international economics and international business.
Coordinator for international double-degree programmes (with head of department) with Italian, French and Polish universities.
2021: Appointment as full professor in 'Innovation and entrepreneurship', School of Business (University of South-Eastern Norway, Norway)
2021: Pedagogical training "Supervising Doctoral Students" for Ph.D. supervisors (University of South-Eastern Norway, Norway).
2019: Qualification as full professor in 'Innovation and regional development', Institute for Business and Economics (Western Norwegian University of Applied Sciences, Norway).
2013-2018: Habilitation degree and qualification as full professor in 'Economics/economic geography', Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Geosciences (University of Bayreuth, Germany).
2009-2011: Pedagogical education for university and college professors in the federal county of Bavaria (Bayern), Germany. Zertifikat Hochschullehre.
2003-2006: Ph.D. in business economics, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics (University of Technology and Mining Freiberg, Germany).
2000-2002: Master of Business Administration (University of Technology and Mining in Freiberg, Germany)
1998-2000: Bachelor in Business Economics (FernUniversitaet Hagen, Germany)
1994-1996: European Secretary & Foreign language correspondent (French-English-Spanish), Bénédict Collège Sarrebruck (Germany)