Advanced Seminar Economics, Policy & Econometrics: Politics of Innovation & Technology

Promoting innovation has been identified as an important means to drive economic growth and, more recently, to adress societal challenges through mission-oriented policies. Yet, international comparisons show that countries haven’t been equally successful in fostering innovation. This course therefore focuses on exploring differences in national innovation systems and identifying recent trends in innovation and technology policies. Key topics that will be covered include: - differences in innovation performance in cross-country comparison and their political determinants - case studies of national innovation systems - the European Union’s innovation and technology policy - recent concepts of innovation policy such as mission orientation and their application

Students will learn key concepts in the research field of innovation policy. The goal is to understand and reflect upon the role of governments and political actors for stimulating or hampering innovation as well as current concepts of innovation and technology policy. The seminar uses advanced original research articles from Economics, Political Science and Innovation Studies for illustrating these concepts and for deriving fundamental insights.

The coursework involves reading of scientific papers and further academic elaboration and research on a specific topic related to the seminar's overall theme. The students will be asked to (i) summarize the key insights on one of the seminar topics in a written essay (seminar paper), and to (ii) present their finding in class in a 30 minutes presentation. The examination will consist of these two parts: (i) written seminar paper, and (ii) oral in-class presentation. Active class room participation is expected during the entire course of the seminar.

Principles of Economics

Students will self-study selected articles related to the assigned topic and will be coached throughout the semester by the instructor. A key learning objective is the ability to read, understand and reflect upon scientific articles on the seminar topic. Students will perform their own research of reference materials, define a specific research question for their seminar paper, identify potential gaps in the academic literature and public understanding of the focal topic, and learn to derive policy suggestions based on the scientific evidence. A further learning objective is the communication of the key insights to the seminar group, i.e. to other students. Students are encouraged to form groups and work in groups.