Innovation in Times of Crisis: The Uneven Effects of the Economic Downturn across Europe

This article addresses the impact of the current economic downturn on innovation across Europe. Using micro and macro data we investigate to what extent some characteristics of a country affect the reaction of its firms in terms of innovation investment. It emerges that the effects of the economic downturn in terms of firms’ innovation investment are not the same across European countries. The competences and quality of the human resources, the specialization in the hi-technology sector together with the depth of the financial system seem to be the structural factors which are able to offset the effect of the economic downturn on innovation investments of firms across Europe. Finally, some considerations about policies during the crisis are discussed.innovation investment, business cycles, national innovation systems, European Innovation Policy, financial crisis

The globalisation of intellectual property rights: four learned lessons and four theses

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) have become ubiquitous in the current debate and have emerged as the key issue of global innovation policy. The ‘Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights’ (TRIPS) Agreement, signed in 1994 as a founding element of the World Trade Organisation, represents the most important attempt to establish a global harmonisation of Intellectual Property protection. The aim of this article is to re-examine critically what has become the common wisdom around IPRs, TRIPS and their effects. We argue that supporters of IPRs in western corporations and governments as well as detractors in global movements and developing countries have overestimated their importance in the process of generation and diffusion of knowledge and innovation. On the basis of some key learned lessons on the nature of innovation and technological change, we assess four theses about TRIPS and its impact on the global generation and distribution of knowledge. Finally, the policy implications concerning international organisations and technological transfer are discussedglobalisation of IPRs, innovation, technological transfer

Post-pandemic reconstruction: Airbus can serve as an investment model for Europe

Member states could pool their resources to create new companies capable of competing in emerging sectors, writes Daniele Archibug

The Airbus lesson: how new companies can be generated to aid Europe’s post-Covid reconstruction

Covid-19 has given rise to a heated debate within the EU over debt mutualisation. Drawing lessons from the creation of Airbus, Daniele Archibugi argues the EU would be better served by focusing on how member states could pool their resources to create new companies capable of competing in emerging sectors

Democrazia e Global Governance. Le Leve Interna ed Esterna

Questo paper esplora i metodi per introdurre strumenti democratici all’interno della global governance. La prima parte cerca di stabilire cosa sia un deficit democratico. La seconda parte fornisce alcuni punti di riferimento che permettono di identificare quando e come le organizzazioni internazionali, la parte più importante e visibile della global governance, corrispondono ai valori della democrazia. La terza parte presenta le leve interna ed esterna. La leva interna è definita come il modo in cui la democratizzazione all’interno dei paesi contribuisce a promuovere forme più trasparenti, responsabili e participative di global governance. La leva esterna è definita come il modo in cui le organizzazioni internazionali contribuiscono a promuovere la transizione democratica e il consolidamento tra i loro membri. Né la leva interna né quella esterna funzionano in modo efficace quando sono lasciati alla mera contrattazione intergovernativa. Una partecipazione attiva degli attori intergovernativi è necessaria al fine di rendere le leve efficaci. Il paper infine discute un elenco di proposte per rendere democratica la global governanc

The retreat of public research and its adverse consequences on innovation

In the last decades a major trend has been ignored: both the quota of public R&D and its share over the total R&D investment has shrunk in most OECD countries. As a result, a larger fraction of knowledge is today generated in the private sector. We argue that this is a major problem since public research and private research differ along a number of characteristics. This has implications for innovation and welfare. Through the lens of the public goods theory and the evolution of R&D for the period 1981-2012 we try to explain why

Vers un project cosmopolitique. Conversation entre th?orie et pratique ? propos du cosmopolitisme. Entretien entre Seyla Benhabib et Daniele Archibugi (Questions de Mariano Croce)

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The social imagination needed for an innovation-led recovery

In response to critical comments by Bengt-Åke Lundvall and Edward Steinmueller, I argue that we need to understand why the economic crisis has been so long, so deep and so wide. Even though it originated in the financial sector, a recovery has not yet materialised because existing and potential technological opportunities have not been exploited. An innovation-based recovery will need to take advantage of these opportunities and will also require a favourable institutional environment. Pro-active public intervention in science and technology will additionally be required, combined with new social imagination

Does discussion lead to opinion change? An experiment in deliberative democracy

While the model of deliberative democracy gives a crucial role to dialogue, empirical evidence has not yet established if discussion helps to reach a better understanding of political issues and, above all, if individuals are prepared to change their views and preferences. This article presents an experiment carried out within the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the LUISS University of Rome. Students were asked to discuss in the classroom the course issues, and to cast a vote on selected issues before and after the deliberation. Although our sample is not representative, we have managed to gather evidences from the same population on a rather large number of issues. Students changed their view in 25.5 per cent of cases, they agreed that discussion increased their understanding of the various issues, while students with strong ex-ante views are more reluctant to change their opinions as a consequence of discussion. The experiment also shows the presence of impermeable and permeable subjects, the former which are more refractory to the discussion in changing their opinion, while the latter are more likely to change their preferences following deliberation. Thanks to their volatility, this second group can provide different majorities and so to be crucial in any electoral dynamics. * Italian National Research Council

De la deuda pública europea a un plan de inversión

La crisis generada por el Covid19 ha llevado a un consenso generalizado acerca de que sin una valiente intervención pública, la economía europea corre el riesgo de derrumbarse. Los costes de la inacción implicarían un aumento del desempleo y de notables quiebras que pondrían en peligro nuestros sistemas democráticos. La economía europea es más frágil que la de Estados Unidos y la de China, y se ha visto afectada por esta inesperada crisis sanitaria cuando aún no se había recuperado plenamente de la crisis financiera