Impact Studies of Regional Effects of Research Infrastructures: Economically Concentrated or Multidimensional

Abstract

This article shows the current focus of impact studies of regional effects of research infrastructures in German. A literature review clarifies whether these studies concentrate on economic effects or assume a multi-dimensional perspective. Furthermore, it will determine where there is still a need for research in the evaluation of infrastructures and which effects are still of interest to the regional impact of a research institute. Based on this analysis, a first approach to the multidimensional evaluation of research infrastructures is presented. The evaluation investigates not only economic effects of research infrastructures, but also new knowledge effects (e.g. project innovation type), political effects (regionality of projects), and cultural effects (e.g. anchoring in the cultural memory). The general objective is to highlight the positive impact of a research infrastructure on the region (the associated federal state) and to expand the examined aspects of previous studies.