WI2023 – Track: Innovative Prototypes & Impact of IS

Track description

Prototypes are key elements for designing and implementing information systems that yield benefits for their users. They reflect the principles of design science whereas building information systems is not an objective in itself but a means to positively impact organizational, individual, and societal values. With the rise of digitalization during the last decade, information systems have become the key for innovation in diverse areas. For example, innovative technologies, such as distributed ledgers, artificial intelligence, metaverse, or quantum computing, are drivers of new data- and platform-based solutions, which transform business processes and enable innovative and digital business models.

With digitalization in business and society, the perspectives have broadened. In the business context, many innovation endeavors aim to intensify customer loyalty and create added value, for example, through personalized interactions or intensification of the customer experience. In addition, information systems are increasingly used in a private context, for example, to support sports or for individual entertainment. Thus, information systems are increasingly relevant in a societal context, for example, in shaping public administration and in meeting the UN’s sustainability goals. 

In developing such information systems, prototypical approaches, such as design or hybrid thinking, are often used to demonstrate and evaluate the underlying innovative idea to the relevant stakeholders at an early stage. However, the benefits are often neglected compared to the costs, and prototypes often fail to achieve their intended effect in practice.

The Industry Track addresses application-oriented contributions from research and practice, which could, for example, examine the current status quo for determining benefits, discuss the development of prototypes in the context of digital transformation, or include concepts for further developing the application and design orientation of information systems. Conceptual approaches, field reports, and case studies of realized prototypes should all be given equal consideration.

Track Topics

The topics of the track include in particular:

  • Prototypes based on innovative technologies or use cases 
  • Factors of success and failure in the introduction of innovative prototypes
  • Use of prototypes and value assessment in development methods
  • Methods for determining the impact of information systems on users, organizations, and society
  • Interdisciplinary approaches for assessing the impact of information systems deployment
  • Linking benefits and risks in information systems deployment and implementation
  • Methods and tools to support benefit assessment
  • Further developments of the Technology / User Acceptance Models for benefit assessment
  • Measurement of (digital) innovation and its effectiveness 
  • Linking development, innovation, and controlling approaches

A Prototype Innovation Award will be presented for the best prototype paper in the track.


Track Chairs

Rainer Alt

Universität Leipzig

Rainer Alt is Professor of Application Systems in Business and Administration at the Information Systems Institute at Leipzig University, Germany. His research focuses on inter-organizational information systems and methods for designing digitalized value chains. Projects include the digitalization of the financial industry, the realization of customer-oriented services, social customer relationship management, and digital platforms. Rainer is Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal Electronic Markets (EM) and speaker of the association Die Wirtschaftsinformatik e.V. (Die WI).

Foto: Susanne Homeier

Susanne Leist

Universität Regensburg

Susanne Leist is a professor for Information Systems and Vice President for Digitalization, Networks and Transfer at the University of Regensburg, Germany. She has held various editorial roles and leadership positions in Information Systems research and education. Her research focus is on process and quality management, with the main focus on investigating the influence of new technologies (e.g. social media) on processes and value creation, with an emphasis on enterprises in the digital economy. In addition to publicly financed research projects, she has conducted numerous practice-oriented research projects (especially with companies in the digital economy, and energy industry).

Stefan Morana

Universität des Saarlandes

Stefan Morana is a Junior Professor of Digital Transformation and Information Systems at the Saarland University. His research focuses on the human-centered design of interactive systems for digital transformation from the perspective of the individual, organizations, and society. More specifically, he investigates the design of assistant systems and conversational interfaces supporting the individual usage of information systems. He is co-track chair of the “Design Research and Methods in IS” track at ECIS since 2019 and has served as track chair as well as an associate editor for other IS conferences.


Associate Editors

  • Benedikt Brendel, TU Dresden
  • Florian Johannsen, Hochschule Schmalkalden
  • Dimitris Karagiannis, Universität Wien
  • Sven Laumer, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • Ulrike Lechner, Universität der Bundeswehr München
  • Christian Leyh, Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen
  • Markus Nüttgens, Universität Hamburg
  • Boris Otto, TU Dortmund & Fraunhofer ISST
  • Günther Pernul, Universität Regensburg
  • Jana Rehse, Universität Mannheim
  • Alexander Rossmann, Hochschule Reutlingen
  • Petra Schubert, Universität Koblenz Landau
  • Reinhard Schütte, Universität Duisburg Essen
  • Oliver Thomas, Universität Osnabrück
  • Rüdiger Zarnekow, TU Berlin