Introduction to Course 4021
26 November 2015
Magnus Gulbrandsen
• Expand on what you – hopefully – learned in
the autumn, and increase your knowledge about
innovation
• Include a more explicit link to research activities
at TIK and provide concrete ideas for thesis
frameworks
• Improve analytical ability and facilitate
personal growth
• Create a good and fun learning environment
The economics of innovation perspective
• In March 2010, EU stated that the total level of
research and development (R&D) investment in
EU countries should be increased to 3% of GDP
• What is the theoretical foundation of this policy objective? What are
the arguments in favour of and against this policy approach? (Why)
does Europe lag behind other advanced countries in terms of
innovativeness and international competitiveness?
• In which industries should private firms and policy-makers invest R&D
resources in order to strengthen the economic performance of
European countries and/or to improve the well-being of their citizens?
The transition perspective
• Europe agreed in 2007 that 20 percent of the
bloc's final energy consumption should be
produced from renewable energy sources by
2020 as part of a long term strategy to move
away from fossil energy
• How can we use theories of technological change –
development, introduction, diffusion of new technologies – to
analyse this transition process?
• What types of public policies are needed to implement the
energy transition? Which policy instruments are most common in
Europe today?
The systemic/knowledge transfer perspective
• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the
world’s largest private non-profit funder of research
and innovation, believing that only innovation can
help eradicate polio, malaria and deal with hunger
and extreme poverty. In 2014 the Foundation spent
3.9 billion USD, a large proportion of it on
research-driven innovation activities in universities
• Can universities solve the health problems of developing countries, and
is it a good solution that they partner with pharmaceutical and other
companies?
• Who should own the results of research funded by the Foundation, and
who should it be accountable to?
Reference: Schot et al. 2015
Economics of
innovation
• Studies of the role of innovation in economic
growth; policies oriented at fixing market
failures and building infrastructures
Systems of
innovation
• Studies of national/regional/sectoral systems;
policies oriented at creating networks, linkages
and moving research results into society
Solving the
grand/global
challenges
• The current main perspective in both research,
policy and many other organisations
TIK4021 is organised with one module for each of these phases,
plus a module for innovation in practice
• Big issues of our time with much attention
• Public expenditure on research and development increasingly justified by
and oriented towards global challenges
• Belief that science and innovation can solve challenges
• Can this be done? How?
• Global challenges as framework
• Directly and indirectly in the course
• Used for theoretical framings, in examples and policy discussions
• We see global challenges as relevant for all organisations
• A complex role for science and innovation
• Focusing on problems and challenges, creating problems on its own, helping
understand them, creating solutions with new problems
• A complex role for policy and firms
• How do you select ideas, innovations and technologies worthy of support? How
can you support them? Why are seemingly good ideas as much resisted as the
bad ones? How do you make organisations and society “move in the right
direction”?
• A global challenge perspective will highlight also
the non-technical side of innovation
• Political, social and ethical aspects
• Why do we see so much difference in innovation and
economic development and structure?
• From macro to micro: innovation and economic
performance across
• Countries: absorptive capacity, social capabilities and
institutional conditions
• Regions: agglomeration economies, regional systems and
policies
• Sectors/industries: technological regimes and trajectories in
manufacturing and service industries
• Firms: capabilities, resources and strategies
• Objective 1: To present a summary introduction to four of
the most popular themes within the economics of innovation,
with an emphasis on why heterogeneity matters and how to
deal with it
• Objective 2: To provide a few concrete examples of
quantitative empirical research in the economics of
innovation
• Objective 3: To suggest a few possible directions of
research to be pursued in your Master theses
• Innovation related to energy, climate change and
natural resources
• From local to global:
• The case of Norway: historical developments, politics of
resource-based innovation and dilemmas in climate and
renewable energy policy
• Sustainable transition and transformation: perspectives on
transformation processes, multi-level perspectives
• Dynamics of technological innovation systems (TIS)
• Policies for sustainable innovation: types and processes
• How do we approach climate change and help
reduce climate emissions from an innovation
perspective?
• Climate strategy: define reduction aims – find cost efficient solutions
• Energy system transformation or transition from fossile to renewables
• How can we study a large scale transformation
consisting of many large systems?
• Emerging approaches within innovation studies
• Multi-level perspective
• Technological innovation systems
• What is the role of (public) research in innovation and
global challenges?
• How are scientific ideas evaluated? How does
research create societal impact?
• Public research organisations: heterogeneity and linkages to
industry
• The basics of commercialisation: patents, licences, entrepreneurship,
spin-off companies
• Facilitating commercialisation: phases, actors, conflicts and effects
• How can public policy and management practices
influence innovation in a desirable way?
• Innovation management – a critical perspective
• Innovation policy – what can be done?
• Responsible research and innovation – what is it?
• Management workshop and group work
• Site visits and/or visits from innovative
firms/organisations
• Wrap-up of the course
• This module a bit overloaded and will require your
feedback for the final design
Mariana Mazzucato, 2013. The
Entrepreneurial State. Debunking
Public vs. Private Sector Myths.
London: Anthem press.
TIK 4021 –
Innovation
and Global
Challenges
• 10 credits
• Advanced master’s level course
• Two lectures per week plus group work
Responsible
for the course:
Magnus
Gulbrandsen
• Please contact me if you have
questions about the course
• Knock on my door or send me an
email: magnus.gulbrandsen@tik.uio.no