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In a combinatorial auction (CA) several heterogeneous items are traded simultaneously, they can be distributed between several winners, and the bidders can submit indivisible all-or-nothing "bundle" bids on groups of items. CAs are getting increasingly popular for conducting negotiations on complex high-stakes markets, for example spectrum auctions and industrial procurement. The goal of this work is to suggest a practical and robust combinatorial auction format which delivers good results for various types of bidder valuations and strategies, including cases when the bidders do not follow the theoretically optimal strategy.

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The author holds a doctorate from the TU München, and completedthe graduate program of Technology Management at the Center forDigital Technology Management (CDTM). He continues research onthe topic of auction formats for complex markets, and founded acompany which is active in this field, the Astradi GmbH.

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