The Research Institute for Innovative Work Design and Prevention (FIAP) e.V., founded in 2010, is a non-profit research institution established by renowned, experienced scientists from various disciplines, as a spin-off from the Technical University of Dortmund.
FIAP is based in Gelsenkirchen, Germany – the Ruhr Region, famous for its successful transformation from a coal-mining region into a hub for services and innovation.

Through various local, national and international R&D projects, FIAP has become an expert in supporting and managing structural change processes in social and ecological balance. FIAP uses this expertise as one of the core topics for exchange and transfer in Europe.

One of FIAP's aims is to contribute to the socially and ecologically sustainable design of service development and to create supporting infrastructure ecosystems through applied research. The focus of interest is on innovative "green" service fields, job profiles and sustainability-oriented ecosystems.

For 12 years, the institute has been engaged in practice-oriented service, green innovation and start-up research, model start-up consultations, migration research and labour research. Another focus is on new vocational qualifications and job profiles in the field of greening and digitalisation. The Institute supports (vocational training) institutions and regions in their innovation management and in the development of new education/service offers, but also advises regions on the creation of framework conditions to initiate transformation processes.

Our objective in all R&D activities is to design model solutions for a sustainable and just transition of our societies. For this purpose, various participative instruments and competence development concepts have been developed (among others, idea and innovation workshops; Model of Systemic, Interactive (transcultural) Service Development; training concepts on the topics: Empowerment, employability and start-up counselling as well as crowdsourcing counselling, participative evaluation concepts), which have been and are being successfully tested and used in various research projects. The approach of our applied research is described in the concept of “Systemic Intervention Research”.

Since 2010 FIAP e.V. has participated and leaded in more than 30 successful research and innovation projects funded national and European institutions (Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Federal Ministry of Labor, Federal Ministry of Economy, Federal Ministry of Environment, EEA Grants, European Climate Initiative, Interreg, etc.). In the framework of these projects, it has successfully developed, tested and implemented participative instruments to facilitate knowledge exchange, international networking and collaboration/ innovation support activities and services, as well as large and small-scale surveys (quantitative and qualitative) and participative evaluation approaches.