August 3, 2018
02. Innovation, institutions and development
Login required (free). After login, navigate to the right course. The course aims at providing an introduction to the main concepts related to Innovation, Institutions, and Development as related to public policy. In particular, the course initially discusses how the global economy developed in the long run. The initial emphasis is on the comparative growth performance of countries, i.e., on how average living standards between countries diverged or converged, how the production and use of technological knowledge is distributed around the world, and how this relates to the global income distribution between countries, how these trends can be interpreted using theories of economic growth. Then, we put an emphasis on describing, analysing and understanding these relative growth performances of the countries in major world regions (e.g. Latin- America, Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, Australia). An important question is how governments contributed to development, especially in terms of policies that facilitate technology transfer. We also pay attention to the role of multinational companies, international institutions (e.g., WTO, World Bank), and intellectual property rights and regimes. We continue by concentrating on various notions of innovation and innovation systems, using an applied perspective (e.g., analysing cases of specific innovation systems in the developed and developing world). Our special emphasis is put on the role of public institutions such as universities and public research institutes in the emergence and functioning of innovation systems. The System of Innovation (SI) framework is used as a “focusing devise” to analyse the underlying complexity behind the innovation processes for policy purposes and as a conceptual tool to approach policy problems from a comprehensive perspective. Finally, we investigate the policy realm of science, technology and innovation (STI). The module starts with a broad framework that explains why government policy may contribute to enhance welfare in society at large. The final part of the course looks at specific policy instruments in the field of science, technology and innovation (STI) policy, and reviews a number of techniques that can be used to evaluate the efficiency and impact of these instruments. With this module we apply gained knowledge from earlier modules to the topic of STI governance and STI policy. The main question addressed in this module is how knowledge and innovation can be utilized for development and what role government can or should play in this. This course is meant to be as an introductory course to Public Policy students, alumni, prospective students, those employed within relevant fields, those seeking relevant individual learning experiences, and other interested parties. This course highlights relevant practical and theoretical concepts to Innovation, Institutions, and Development. The content material directly connects to the Innovation, Institutions, and Development track, as is included in our Master Programme in Public Policy, and serves as an introduction to the field for potential MPP students, a support for MPP students currently deciding on their specialisation, a refresher for alumni, and a general introduction to the field for external users. The course is designed as open source material, and will not require a university registration or affiliation to participate.
Serdar Turkeli, Thomas Ziesemer, Kirsten Haaland, Mindel van de Laar