This year´s theme of the IPMA Research Conference “Project management and the impact on societies” is dedicated to look deeper in the global trend of projectification, that comprises all areas of life and that seems is ubiquitous in all parts of the world.

The first projectification studies in Germany, Norway and Iceland showed that project work contributes already to one third to the national gross domestic product. Although differences exist among the countries regarding size and industry structure, the degree of projectification of advanced economies seems to converge on around one third of all economic activities.

The scope of the 2018 IPMA Research Conference is to explore the consequences of the global trend of projectification particularly on the societies. In times of increasing automatisation and digitalisation of the standard line processes in organisations, more and more people work in projects to realize the strategies of the executives, to create innovations, to develop ideas into new products and services, to develop marketing campaigns or to improve internal processes in organisations. Employment contracts are becoming increasingly limited to the duration of a project. This seems to give greater flexibility both to the employer and the employee. Long-term or even life-long employment is becoming the exception.

But what does this projectification development mean for the individual, for the organisations and for the societies, for the social security systems, and for private life? The 2018 IPMA Research Conference aims to define answers to these urgent questions.

The theme motivated many authors to submit their papers. In the first stage we received 34 short papers that were evaluated in a double-blind review process. As a consequence 17 authors were invited to submit their long papers. The authors were encouraged to reach beyond the usual boundaries of the project domain and to embrace innovative approaches for further developing the understanding of project management.

The two day conference in Rio de Janeiro on September 3-4 2018 aims to look at the following areas:

• The status of projectification of societies in different societies analyses situation of projectification in the countries Poland, Iceland, Croatia and China
• Consequences of the global projectification trend analyses the impacts of projectification to all members of the societies, for individuals, to organisations and project managers and team members in particular
• Public administration based on transparent project governance structures examines the development of a Governmental Project Management Capability model and a Project-Oriented Management of a national ministry
• Value creation through projects/ project management for the society analyses e.g. if a “fragile“ municipality can be projectified, or at the impact of implementing excellence in social and humanitarian organizations

The 2018 IPMA Research Conference represents a holistic overview on the various aspects of projectification as an overlap between sociology, macroeconomics, organisational behaviour and project management. The conference could be the starting point for a new scientific direction in project management.

If you want to participate you can still register on the following link: http://www.ipma-research-conference.world/

We look forward to seeing you in Rio de Janeiro.

Yvonne Schoper, Ph.D.

IPMA Research Conference Coordinator