Innovation economics 2400-ENSM050B
Despite an increasing role of innovations in economic and business studies, the economics of innovation is not included in the standard curriculum of economics. That is why the first part of the seminar will introduce students to the subject. The mini-lecture will contain the following topics
1. Collective learning in firms, economies and societies.
2. Innovation and profit maximization
3. Firm capabilities and limitations. Innovation strategies of firms.
4. The financing of innovation.
5. Technological entrepreneurship.
6. The systemic nature of innovation.
7. Science, technology and innovation policy.
Next, we will discuss the datasets that are discussed in innovation studies, including
- Firm-level data (ORBIS, Community Innovation Survey);
- Data on R&D expenditure (OECD);
- Patent data (PATSTAT, Google Patents);
- Bibliometric data ( Web of Science);
- Data on the VC market (eg. Crunchbase).
We will look at the structure of these databases and discuss the opportunities their provide and the limitations they have. Other sources of data – including own questionnaires and web-scraping – are also welcome. During this part of the seminar the students will also supplement their data analytics skills if necessary.
Possible topics of master theses include
- Innovation and patenting strategies of firms across industries and nations;
- Human capital and firm-level innovation;
- Factors of technological entrepreneurship;
- Digitalization and firm innovation strategies;
- Green technology development across sectors;
- Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and innovation;
- Digitalization and firm innovation strategies;
- Innovation and market structure;
- Regional disparities in the production of scientific and technological knowledge;
- The prospects of Venture Capital sector in Europe and/or other regions;
- Crowdfunding – strengths and weaknesses;
- Government support and the type of innovation introduced by firms;
- Government support and firms’ innovation policies.
Obviously, students’ own proposals are more than welcome.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
- Understanding of the economic approaches to innovation
- Ability to analyze the data on innovation and technological progress: data search, analysis and presentation
- Familiarity with basic results in the economics of innovation
- Ability to formulate and address research problems in written form
Bibliography
Fagerberg, J.; Mowery, D. C.; Nelson, R. R. (2006): The Oxford Handbook of Innovation: OUP Oxford (Oxford Handbooks in Business and Management)
Malerba, F.; Nelson, R. R.; Orsenigo, L.; Winter, S. G. (2016): Innovation and the Evolution of Industries. History-Friendly Models: Cambridge University Press.
Shane, Scott (2008): The Handbook of Technology and Innovation Management, John Wiley & Sons.
Tidd, J., & Bessant, J. R. (2020). Managing innovation: integrating technological, market and organizational change. John Wiley & Sons.
The references will also include a number of journal papers including the following:
Mollick, E. (2014). The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study. Journal of Business Venturing, 29(1), 1-16.
Corporate Strategy and the Theory of the Firm in the Digital Age
Foss, N. J., & Saebi, T. (2017). Fifteen years of research on business model innovation: How far have we come, and where should we go?. Journal of management, 43(1), 200-227.
Bell, A., Chetty, R., Jaravel, X., Petkova, N., & Van Reenen, J. (2019). Who becomes an inventor in America? The importance of exposure to innovation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(2), 647-713.
Bloom, N., Jones, C. I., Van Reenen, J., & Webb, M. (2020). Are ideas getting harder to find?. American Economic Review, 110(4), 1104-44.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: