02/06/2019

New project for the European Commission
ConPolicy-Study on geographical indications on products

Many producers highlight quality and heritage of a product by adding geographic indications of origin to product names such as “Murano glass” or “Champagne wine”.
Consumers value such geographic indications. However, other producers may have an interest in imitating the traditional products and ‘free-ride’ on their reputation.
ConPolicy, with support from other project partners, is therefore analyzing the value of so-called sui generis geographic indications of origin for non-food products for the European Commission 

To this end, ConPolicy is designing behavioral experiments and assesses among other things how geographic indications impact consumers’ search costs, willingness to pay and perception of authentic products.

Please find more information on the project here.

02/05/2019

KErn Science Seminar
ConPolicy discusses opportunities and challenges of nudging in the health and nutrition sector

At this year's Science Seminar of the Competence Center for Nutrition (KErn) at the University of Bayreuth, ConPolicy project manager Dr. Max Vetter outlined the opportunities of behavior-based measures such as nudges for health promotion. Under the title "Nudging: On the potential of effective interventions beyond homo oeconomicus", he emphasized that nudging can contribute to effective, accepted and evidence-based health promotion measures.

In the following panel discussion, Max Vetter continued the debate on the opportunities and challenges of nudging together with Prof. Dr. Hannelore Daniel (TU Munich), Dr. Kai Purnhagen (Wageningen University) and Marcus Otto (Association of the Sugar Industry e.V.).

An interview with Max Vetter on this topic can also be found in the section "Controversially discussed" on the KErn homepage.

01/29/2019

ConPolicy welcomes Annette Cerulli-Harms as a new team member

In January, Dr. Annette Cerulli-Harms has joined ConPolicy as a new team member. She is responsible for leading national and international consulting projects and studies, which use behavioral insights and behavior change designs to analyze and improve consumers' decision-making processes.

Prior to joining ConPolicy, Annette has worked 3.5 years at project partner London Economics. She holds a PhD in economics from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. During her studies, she spent time as a researcher at the London School of Economics and at the University of Oxford. She also holds a master degree from the University of Mannheim. She focuses on the areas of digitalization, real estate, banking and finance as well as sustainability management.

01/28/2019

Interview on the DATENSCHUTZscanner
Privacy in Smartphone Apps

Today an interview with ConPolicy-Director Prof. Dr. Christian Thorun was published on the website of the German Federal Government. It focuses on the functionality of the DATENSCHUTZscanner-technology.

The DATENSCHUTZscanner-prototype has been developed between 2016 and 2018 within the “Privacy Guard”-project and aims at supporting consumers’ self-determination when using their smartphone.

Please find the interview here (German).
More information on the research project (German).