Renowned award for outstanding doctoral thesis

“I am delighted that the jury found my doctoral thesis relevant,” says Kircher. “The prize is not only a fantastic recognition, but it is also a unique and wonderful opportunity to establish further research projects with partners from the media and advertising industries.”

In his dissertation, Kircher examined the consequences of a complete ban on tracking for personalized advertising. His most important findings:

· A complete ban on tracking would lead to a considerable drop in app development. A ban would weaken innovation.

· A tracking ban in particular would jeopardize the ad-supported business model as well as start-ups, with adverse consequences for entrepreneurship.

· A ban would lower advertising revenues for companies. This would negatively impact consumers and society: the quality and variety of apps would decline. Many apps would disappear entirely. More ads would distract users.

The HORIZONT Foundation is offering awards and scholarships worth a total of at least €15,000 this year. The awards recognize research and project work by young professionals from companies, as well as outstanding academic theses and dissertations. These should deal with practical issues and tasks as well as the future development of the communication, media, and advertising industry.

A detailed report on Tobias Kircher’s research project will follow soon on Mindshift Online.