Prof. Dr. Heike Grimm

heike.grimm@uni-erfurt.de

Vice Director (Willy Brandt School of Public Policy)

Contact

C19 – research building "Weltbeziehungen" / C19.02.08

Office hours

by appointment via email (kathrin.eisenhauer@uni-erfurt.de)

Visiting address

Campus
Willy Brandt School of Public Policy
C19 – research building "Weltbeziehungen"
Max-Weber-Allee 3
99089 Erfurt

Mailing address

Universität Erfurt
Willy Brandt School of Public Policy
Postfach 90 02 21
99105 Erfurt

Aletta Haniel Professor for Public Policy and Entrepreneurship (Willy Brandt School of Public Policy)

Contact

C19 – research building "Weltbeziehungen" / C19.02.08

Office hours

by appointment via email (kathrin.eisenhauer@uni-erfurt.de)

Visiting address

Campus
Willy Brandt School of Public Policy
C19 – research building "Weltbeziehungen"
Max-Weber-Allee 3
99089 Erfurt

Mailing address

Universität Erfurt
Willy Brandt School of Public Policy
Postfach 90 02 21
99105 Erfurt

Prof. Dr. Heike Grimm

Research Area

Entrepreneurship and Public Policy

Short Biography

Heike M. Grimm holds the Aletta Haniel Professorship for Public Policy and Entrepreneurship at the University of Erfurt and served as the university’s Vice President for International Affairs from 2014 to 2020. Currently, she is the Vice Director of the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, having previously served as its Director from 2006 to 2008 and again from 2015 to 2019. Before joining the University of Erfurt, she was a Professor of Policy Analysis and Public Management at the Faculty of Economics, Management, and Accountancy at the University of Malta. From 2002 to 2008, she held a Research Lectureship in Public Policy, funded by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.

Professor Grimm is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Co-opted Member of the Kollegrat of the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies (Max-Weber-Kolleg) at the University of Erfurt, an Advisory Board Member of the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University, and a College Member of the International Public Policy Association.

She was a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Economics in Jena, where she worked with the Entrepreneurship, Growth, and Public Policy Group led by Professor David B. Audretsch, from 2004 to 2008. Additionally, she has held visiting appointments at prestigious institutions, including the Johns Hopkins University, the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Her diverse research projects, funded by organizations such as the European Science Foundation, the European Commission, the German Federal Ministries of Economics and Research, and the Haniel Foundation, focus on the role of entrepreneurship, start-ups, and small business promotion for sustainable development. Beyond academia, Professor Grimm has worked as a consultant and policy analyst for local and national governments, international organizations, and private entities, including the OECD, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Washington, D.C., Europe Unlimited SA in Brussels, and the European Union of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

She studied politics, economics, economic history, and Arabic at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Professor Grimm holds a Doctorate from the University of Munich and completed her Habilitation at the University of Erfurt.

Research

Interests

The research of Heike Grimm focuses on the role of social and policy entrepreneurship, public policies for start-up initiatives and business promotion in context of development and the strategic management of places in diverse, international contexts.

Recently, she was awarded around 700,000 Euros in federal grants for implementing a social and international start-up campus at the University of Erfurt. The grant is part of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology‘s (BMWi) national initiative “EXIST Potentiale”, specifically addressing the pillar “Poteniale heben” (Unlock Potential) of the “EXIST Gründungskultur” (Exist Start-up Culture) program. The successful applicants and project team of four led by Heike Grimm submitted a convincing proposal which aims at promoting the entrepreneurial spirit of students and to further support ideas from international and interdisciplinary start-up teams.

Heike Grimm is specifically interested in the role of social entrepreneurship for bottom-up development in Global South countries and peripheral regions in the Global North. Previously successful start-up teams from the Willy Brandt School that emerged in her social entrepreneurship class, such as MINTy Girls, Sharing Living or the app Amigo, provided essential motivation for the idea and the development of a social and international start-up campus and incubator at the University of Erfurt. These projects were recipients of the Brandt School’s Commitment Award, which has been spearheaded by the Engagement Price Foundation over the last ten years.
The intersection of entrepreneurship and public policy is an especially innovative aspect of the teaching and research portfolio of Heike Grimm, and is one of the unique selling points of the Brandt School’s MPP program.

Latest research is focusing on public health entrepreneurship. Further publications projects tackle issues such as policy entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship education. The peer-reviewed journal Public Administration Education just accepted an article for a special issue, in 2021.

A research cluster could be established focusing on Public Policy Research in the Global South culminating in edited volume by Heike Grimm with doctoral students and alumni of the Brandt School supported by internationally highly  academics and researchers, among them, David B- Audretsch, Richard Rose and Meng-Hsuan Chu.

Projects

  • Social and international start-up campus University of Erfurt (EXIST) more information
  • Public Policy Research in the Global South
  • The Diversity of Entrepreneurship: Policy Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship Education, Public Health Entrepreneurship

Memberships

Publications

Journal article
Boatemaa Appiah, P., & Heike Grimm. (2025). Landscape of social innovation research in the global south: trends and implications for future research. Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy. https://doi.org/10.1108/jepp-07-2024-0111
Aly, M., Heike M. Grimm, & Audretsch, D. (2025). Impact of cultural values and practices on entrepreneurial behavior: bibliometric literature review. Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy. https://doi.org/10.1108/jepp-08-2024-0131
Juliane Corredor Jimenez, Heike M. Grimm, Lamin O. Ceesay, & Meseret Wondirad. (2023). Lessons Not (Yet) Learned: What African Countries Could Teach the Global North about One Health during the Pandemics. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2023.2187698
Grimm, H., & Charlotte L Bock. (2022). Entrepreneurship in public administration and public policy programs in Germany and the United States. Teaching Public Administration. https://doi.org/10.1177/01447394211021636
Aly, M., David B. Audretsch, & Heike Grimm. (2021). Emotional skills for entrepreneurial success: the promise of entrepreneurship education and policy. The Journal of Technology Transfer. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-021-09866-1
Heike M. Grimm, & Juliane Corredor Jimenez. (2021). Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Comparative Policy Analysis. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2021.1908829
Heike M. Grimm, & Johannes Jaenicke. (2012). What drives patenting and commerzialisation activity at East German universities? The role of new public policy, institutional environment and individual prior knowledge. The Journal of Technology Transfer. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-010-9195-2
HEIKE M. GRIMM. (2011). THE LISBON AGENDA AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP POLICY: GOVERNANCE IMPLICATIONS FROM A GERMAN PERSPECTIVE. Public Administration. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.2011.01940.x
David B. Audretsch, Heike M. Grimm, & Stephan Schuetze. (2009). Local Strategies within a European Policy Framework. European Planning Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654310802618119

Courses taught

Summer Semester 2025

  • Management and Leadership
  • Public Health
  • Performance Management, Budgeting, And Accountability in Nonprofit Organizations
  • Research Colloquium

Winter Semester 2024/25

  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Spring School: Understanding Corruption and Promoting Anti-Corruption Efforts
  • Project Group: Artificial intelligence and its impact on civil society

Summer Semester 2024

  • Research Colloquium

Winter Semester 2023/24

  • Project Group: Transformative Leadership
  • Social Entrepreneurship

Summer Semester 2023

  • Management and Leadership
  • Research Colloquium
  • Social Entrepreneurship

Winter Semester 2022/23

  • Public Administration and Finance
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Project Group: Incentivize Social Entrepreneurship
  • Project Group: The Global Anti-Corruption Campaign

Summer Semester 2022

  • Business Plan Writing, Value Assessment and Start-up Coaching
  • Management and Leadership
  • Research Colloquium

Winter Semester 2021/22

  • Public Administration and Finance
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Project Group: Policy Briefing for the 2022 G7 Summit in Germany

Summer Semester 2021

  • Advanced Research & Writing
  • Management and Leadership
  • Research Colloquium

Winter Semester 2020/21

  • Political Advocacy and Leadership
  • Public Health and Policymaking
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Project Group: The Ball 2022-23 - Football and Climate Change

Summer Semester 2020

  • Research Colloquium

Summer Semester 2019

  • Research Colloquium

Winter Semester 2018/19

  • Project Group: Mission and Visions of the Brandt Reports from Today´s Perspective: Organization of a Panel for the ecpr Conference in Wroclaw
  • Social Entrepreneurship

Summer Semester 2018

  • Independent Study Unit
  • Research Colloquium

Winter Semester 2017/18

  • Comparative Public Policy
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Project Group: Professionalizing the Commitment Award Project: Evaluation, Case Writing and New Tools for Marketing

Summer Semester 2017

  • Non-Profit Management
  • Research Colloquium

Winter Semester 2016/2017

  • Political Advocacy and Leadership
  • Project Group: The 'Social Impact Navigator' - a Useful and Free-of-Charge Tool which Needs to Reach the International NPO Community

Summer Semester 2016

  • Research Colloquium I

Winter Semester 2015/16

  • Comparative Public Policy
  • Political Advocacy and Leadership
  • Social Entrepreneurship

Summer Semester 2015

  • Existenzgründung - Unschlagbar praxisnah
  • Haniel Spring School - Public Administration: Russia in Comparative Perspectives
  • Research Colloquium III

Winter Semester 2014/15

  • Comparative Public Policy
  • Public Administration - Russia in Comparative Perspectives
  • Summer School - Afghanistan after 2014: From Resolute Support to Sustainable Development
  • Project Group: Conceptualizing a Business Plan for a Fair Trade Shop or Selling Point
  • Project Group: The Emergence of Public Policy in Cross-Country Perspectives - A Publication Project

Summer Semester 2014

  • Haniel Spring School - Border Policies from the Soviet Union to the EU: Russia and the Baltic States
  • Non-Profit Management
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Research Colloquium III
  • Self-Study Unit

 

Winter Semester 2013/14

  • Comparative Public Policy
  • Project Group: The Emergence of Public Policy in Cross-Country Perspectives - A Publication Project

Winter Semester 2012/13

  • Comparative Public Policy
  • Mapping EU Institutions against the National Integrity Systems Assessment approach
  • Mentorierungstreffen

Summer Semester 2012

  • 2-Willy Brandt School: Research Colloquium I
  • NGO Management and Social Entrepreneurship

Winter Semester 2011/12

  • Comparative Public Policy
  • Political Advocacy and Leadership
  • Haniel Fall School: Contemporary Governance in Russia and the European Union
  • PG-04: Aid Delivery Methods. Assessment and Policy Recommendations

Office Management

Kathrin Eisenhauer
Kathrin Eisenhauer
Secretary Aletta Haniel Professor for Public Policy and Entrepreneurship
(Willy Brandt School of Public Policy)
C19 – research building "Weltbeziehungen" / C19.02.13
+49 361 737-4670
kathrin.eisenhauer@uni-erfurt.de