The 50th anniversary conference of the Science Policy Research Unit (Spru), University of Sussex, 7 to 9 September 2016
As part of its 50th anniversary, the Science Policy Research Unit (Spru) of the University of Sussex, one of the partners of the ISIGrowth project, organises a major conference from 7 to 9 September 2016 on the theme “Transforming Innovation”. Over three days, the conference will bring together leading thinkers from business, academia and civil society to explore the future of innovation. The first day of the conference will be devoted to policy makers and practitioners; the second and third days will be an academic conference.
The conference will be focused on the potential for innovation to radically reconfigure the entire economy and society, and the associated need to transform processes of innovation governance. All the sections and the panels, both theoretical and empirical, will explore the nature, the determinants and the direction of innovation and its contribution to meeting current and future global challenges.
Researchers from the ISIGrowth project will organise and participate to several sessions of the conference. Key speakers at the plenary section “Racing with the machine: tensions and trade-offs between technology, innovation and employment” – on Wednesday 7 September – will be Giovanni Dosi (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies) and Mariana Mazzucato (University of Sussex). Key speakers at the plenary session “Economic policy for innovation and development in Latin America”, on Friday 9 September, will be Mariana Mazzucato and Mario Cimoli (United Nations Commission for Latin America/ECLAC Chile).
During the conference, several sessions will focus on ISIGrowth research. Mariana Mazzucato will be one of the main participant at the session “Rethinking pharmaceutical innovations: new models for more efficient R&D and improved patient access”, which will be held on Wednesday 7 September.
The panel “Direction and pace of green technology innovation: What do we need to know about finance and policy to influence it?”, held on Thursday 8 September, will be chaired by Gregor Semeniuk. Key-speakers, among others, will be Ariel Wirkierman (University of Sussex) and Mariana Mazzucato.
The session on “Innovation systems and structural transformations from and historical perspective” will be chaired by Maria Savona (University of Sussex). Alessandro Nuvolari (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies), José Antonio Ocampo (University of Columbia), Mario Cimoli and Valeria Cirillo (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies) will take part in the panel.
On Friday 9 September, the panel “The interaction between innovation, employment, inequality and the environment contrasting evolutionary models on global challenges” will be focused on the theoretical aspects of the innovation process. It will be chaired by Tommaso Ciarli. Main speakers, among others, will be Andrea Roventini (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies), Giovanni Dosi, Mario Cimoli and Mauro Napoletano (Ofce, Science Politiques).
On Friday 9 September, in the afternoon, the panel “Innovation and industrial performance: firm level analysis”, will focus on the empirical aspects of innovation. It will be organised by Federico Tamagni (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies), and it will host, among the main speakers, Angelo Secchi (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies), Giovanni Dosi and Dario Guarascio (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies).
Click here to download the full program