Jan Wedemeier joined the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI) in 2007. He worked in the research project "Creative Future: Growth Potentials for Baltic Cities", and in other projects on regional development and creative economy. Moreover, in 2009 he was a SUS.DIV Research Fellow at Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei in Milan. In 2008 he received a scholarship for the EU-Fellowship Programme "Future Urban Research in Europe". His main research interests include the economics of innovation, regional and cluster economics, and creativity as an economic factor. He is a member of the Regional Studies Association Research Network on Creative Regions in Europe, and of the Council of Europe on Intercultural cities research steering group.

Jan Wedemeier wrote his dissertation about "Germany’s creative sector and its impact on employment growth". He studied economics at the University of Applied Science in Bremen and the Malmö University in Sweden. He has been working in economic research topics since 2006.