Blade Runner economics: Will innovation lead the economic recovery?

Daniele Archibugi, Italian National Research Council (CNR-IRPPS) and University of London, Birkbeck CollegeItalian National Research Council (CNR-IRPPS) in Rome, and Professor of Innovation, Governance and Public Policy at the University of London, Birkbeck College
According to Schumpeterian theories, economic expansions are associated with the introduction of suc- cessful new products, processes and services while depressions are linked to stagnant periods with few innovations. Can the economic crisis set in motion in 2008 be explained by the inability to innovate and upgrade production? And, conversely, will an economic recovery require a new stream of innovations? Drawing on the debate which emerged after the 1970s economic crisis, this discussion paper tries to assess whether it is likely that the next long-term expansion will be linked to a new stream of innova- tions. While most evidence suggests that ICTs continue to provide the back-bone of economic activities, there is the prospect that biotechnology will eventually start to fulfil the promise envisaged over 30 years ago in the film Blade Runner.
About the speaker
Daniele Archibugi is a Research Director at the Italian National Research Council (CNR-IRPPS) in Rome, and Professor of Innovation, Governance and Public Policy at the University of London, Birkbeck College. He works on the economics and policy of science, technology and innovation and on the political theory of international relations. He has worked at the Universities of Sussex, Cambridge, London School of Economics, Harvard and Rome LUISS. In 2006 he was appointed honorary professor at the Sussex University.
He has chaired the European Commission's Expert Group on A Wide Opening of the European Research Area to the World, he has been a member of the Expert Group of the European Commission Global Europe 2030/2050 and he has coordinated the Report The Contribution of the European Commission to Responsible Research and Innovation.
In the field of innovation studies, he co-authored with Mario PiantaThe Technological Specialization of Advanced Countries, prefaced by the then EC President Jacques Delors (Kluwer, 1992) and co-edited with Bengt-Aake Lundval, The Globalizing Learning Economy (Oxford University Press, 2001). His latest co-authored book, with Andrea Filippetti, is Innovation and Economic Crisis. Lessons and Prospects from the Economic Downturn (Routledge, 2011). His latest co-editing, with Andrea Filippetti, is The Handbook of Global Science, Technology and Innovation (Wiley, 2015). He is now working on the potential for social and technological innovation to lead a new economic recovery.
Venue: Conference room (room 0.16 & 0.17)
Date: 18 January 2017
Time: 14:00 CEST