The range of study programs in finance and the ways how to study due to place, time, and focus has increased in recent years. Students can choose what and how they want to learn. If someone finds an appropriate program he must decide to study face-to-face, online, or in a hybrid format. Finance is often a duty in business administration or related study programs. For many students in those classes the financial topics are bleak. This leads to a passive consumption of contents and ends often in dropping out. The aim of this research was to discuss methods to activate and keep learners motivated by using well selected media in teaching. To identify which media is used in teaching, a literature review was done. Teaching annual reports and other official reports available in English and/or German from several international educational institutions are read, compared, and analyzed. Additionally, secondary academic literature is checked for further examples. In a first step, therefore, different techniques to active students, such as collaboration or interaction, are discussed critically on a literature base. In a second step, based on the techniques, a selection matrix was obtained that supports educators to select the right medium to deal with a certain technique. Many examples were found that might assist educators in the practical use of the selection matrix. Keywords: active learning in finance, motivation in higher education, media selection

The digital transformation in the manufacturing industry is referred to as Industry 4.0. The concept includes real-time data transfer and networking along the entire value chain and, with this, vertical and horizontal integration as well as end-to-end engineering through cyber-physical systems, sensors, actuators and human-machine interfaces. Seven years after its inception however, Industry 4.0 technologies have thus far been predominantly limited to certain test applications and pilot projects. In light of this, the present study aims to provide a detailed insight into the concept of Industry 4.0 and highlight the main obstacles that hinder its implementation. The study also seeks to answer the question of whether the concept of Industry 4.0 will ever be implemented to its full capacity in the German manufacturing industry. The research design of the present study is divided into a theoretical and empirical investigation. The theoretical part is based on extensive literature research and aims to provide the reader with an introduction to the technical characteristics and requirements of Industry 4.0, and in particular to highlight as many aspects as possible that hampers the implementation in Germany. The following empirical part is based on the analysis of expert interviews. For the investigation n=13 experts were selected based on their reputation and experience in the field of Industry 4.0 technologies. In order to supplement the theoretical results with practical experience, the experts were chosen from industrial associations as well as, in particular, from those occupying leading positions in the manufacturing industry and IT-consulting. The empirical part therefore will focus to identify the main inhibitory factors to implementing Industry 4.0, that are referred to as 'obstacles' in the course of this thesis. The findings of the present study indicate that, principally, two major obstacles hinder the implementation of Industry 4.0. The first major obstacle relates to the high complexity of the concept, a result of the interacting consequences of a lack of standards and interoperability, of security and legal aspects, as well as the lack of employees suitably qualified in the field of informatics. The other major obstacle concerns psychological reservations, which arise from a reluctance to open up company boundaries for the associated real-time data transfer along the entire value chain. The findings further indicate however, that despite these major obstacles, the German manufacturing industry still has a reasonable chance of succeeding with Industry 4.0 implementation over the long term.

Our goal is to examine the efficiency of different intraday electricity markets and if any of their price prediction models are more accurate than others. This paper includes a comprehensive review of Germany, France, and Norway’s (NOR1) day-ahead and intraday electricity market prices. These markets represent different energy mixes which would allow us to analyze the impact of the energy mix on the efficiencies of these markets. To draw conclusions about extreme market conditions, (i) we reviewed the market data linked to COVID-19. We expected higher volatility in the lockdowns than before and therefore decrease in the efficiency of the prediction models. With our analysis, (ii) we want to draw conclusions as to whether a mix based mainly on renewable energies such as that in Norway implies lower volatilities even in times of crisis. This would answer (iii) whether a market with an energy mix like Norway is more efficient in highly volatile phases. For the analysis, we use data visualization and statistical models as well as sample and out-of-sample data. Our finding was that while the different price and volatility levels occurred, the direction of the market was similar. We could find evidence that our expectations (i–iii) were met.

With the growing need for digital business transformation, corporate venture capital (CVC) investors have been faced with the challenge of how to deal with this trend. Although digital business transformation and CVC are highly relevant, previous studies have investigated them separately instead of their relationships. Therefore, this research aimed to study the impact of CVC on digital business transformation to fill this research gap. Based on an exploratory research design, eleven experts from different industries were interviewed. The following results were found in this study: (1) after the CVC unit collaborated with an Open Innovation (OI) unit, the CVC activities were integrated into the decentralized OI activities, and a dedicated team in the CVC unit was responsible for OI and venture client-based OI activities, thus achieving digital OI; (2) CVC was used to pursue ambidexterity, digital exploration or exploitation; (3) CVC supported digital business transformation at the organizational, social, and technical levels, which provided an answer to the overarching research question of how CVC supported innovation processes. Theoretical implications of this study lied in enhancing the understanding between CVC and digital business transformation, thus extending the understanding of CVC organization and impact. Furthermore, this study provided practical implications and recommendations on organizing CVC and using it to achieve digital business transformation according to strategic objectives.

Digital competence plays crucial role in 21st century with the result of new importance given to the overall digital transformation processes as well as domains. Besides technological innovation, several domains such as traditional workplaces or change of the leadership role may be touched significantly. Besides the examination of the forthcoming challenges facing digital competence strategies, there may be a critical analysis applied into Germany’s overall digital capabilities and the transformations readiness to evaluate their future-proofness. By following the Big Data approach, irrational relationships may be disclosed to ensure a generic strength and weakness analysis of Germany in the global competition. Germany has to maintain its innovative strength as never before. Moreover, along with the Industry 4.0 strategy and digital transformation processes, Germany has to enhance its digital abilities across industries. Compared to the most innovative countries, Germany is condemned to failure but can certainly catch up. Germany has failed in practice in the initial stages, like the omission to develop eco-friendly engines. It is necessary to understand the reasons that Germany cannot maintain or ex-tend its lead.

According to a study by the German Federal Printing Office (2022), every European lives with 90 digital identities on average, and the trend is rising. The German government has launched the innovation competition “Digital Identities Showcase” to select and promote identity projects for data security and sovereignty. The funding amount is 50 million EUR to develop software, research practical use cases and implement them by 2024. Of course, this large sum presupposes acceptance for the use of such digital identities, especially against the backdrop of critical opinions from the media and society, as already outlined in a Canadian study. However, there is little academic research on blockchain technology, but almost no article on the use of digital identities based on blockchain technology. This paper conducts a quantitative study on the social acceptance of digital identities using a questionnaire-based survey with 324 German participants on the social acceptance of the use of digital identities. The result of the study is that social acceptance of the use of digital identities is significantly influenced by demographics, citizens’ experience with blockchain products, affinity with financial products and privacy concerns.