Mitarbeiter des INER

Prof. Dr. Mirko Schönfeldt is Chairman of the Institute of Northern-European Economic Research and Director of its Department of European Economic Law. In addition to his leadership responsibilities at INER, he is Professor of Business Law and Vice-Rector for Studies and Teaching at NBS Northern Business School. He is also a practising attorney and serves as Honorary Consul of the Republic of Latvia for the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein.

Professor Schönfeldt works at the intersection of law, economics, infrastructure and Northern-European cooperation. His career combines academic research, university leadership, legal practice, executive responsibility and practical experience in major cross-border infrastructure and development projects.

His work focuses on the legal and institutional conditions under which European integration becomes economically effective: functioning markets, reliable infrastructure, investment certainty, public procurement, cross-border cooperation and resilient regional value creation.

Oliver-Andreas Leszczynski is an internationally recognised authority on industrial artificial intelligence and the architecture of complex, data-driven production systems. His work spans intelligent shipbuilding, maritime operations, deep-sea technologies, green hydrogen, e-kerosene and the strategic infrastructure required to transform emerging technologies into scalable, auditable and economically viable industrial capacity.

​Combining more than fifteen years of transformation experience with an interdisciplinary command of artificial intelligence, business management and political economy, he operates at the point where technology becomes industrial strategy. His distinctive contribution lies in connecting AI architecture with engineering reality, asset performance, economic value, regulatory integrity and international cooperation

​“The strategic opportunity lies in moving from AI-enabled individual assets to AI-orchestrated industrial value chains.”

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Sorgenfrei is an internationally experienced maritime economist, port strategist and author whose career spans port development, executive leadership, global trade forecasting, maritime consulting, academic research and institutional strategy.

He has held senior leadership responsibilities at Port of Hamburg Marketing, directed the international Maritime & Trade consulting practice of IHS Global and advised public as well as private institutions on ports, shipping, rail, hinterland transport and global supply chains. At INER, he leads the Department of Maritime Affairs and examines how maritime systems shape competitiveness, connectivity and economic resilience across Northern Europe.

Prof. Dr. Michael Stuwe works at the intersection of infrastructure, economic geography, strategic management and regional development. As Director of Logistics & Infrastructure at INER, he leads the institute’s research into rail capacity, intermodal freight, port-hinterland systems, transport corridors and the institutional foundations of resilient economic connectivity.

​His professional and academic career combines the perspectives of an economist, legal scholar, former board executive, university professor and long-standing research director. This interdisciplinary background enables him to examine infrastructure not merely as a technical system, but as an economic and institutional architecture that redistributes trade flows, investment, risks, knowledge and regional opportunity.

​"Infrastructure creates economic opportunity only when capacity, connectivity and resilience are developed together."

Prof. Dr. André Röhl is a security and resilience strategist whose work connects economic security, critical infrastructure, crisis management, civil preparedness, organizational capability and defence-related institutional capacity. As Director of Security & Defence Economics at INER, he examines how companies, public authorities, municipalities and security institutions can preserve essential functions, adapt under pressure and contribute to the resilience of the wider society.

​His career combines military command experience, parliamentary administration, international management consulting, organizational psychology and academic leadership. This distinctive interdisciplinary background enables him to approach security not as an isolated protective function, but as a strategic condition of economic continuity, institutional sovereignty and public trust.