Course teached as: B018777 - ECONOMICS OF INNOVATION Second Cycle Degree in ECONOMICS AND DEVELOPMENT Curriculum ECONOMICS
Teaching Language
English
Course Content
Synthetic Program:
Digital age. Data, information, knowledge. Technological trajectories and evolutions of techno-economic paradigms. Different approaches for analysing decision making processes. Morphological dynamics of firms and economic systems. Dynamics of socio-technical systems. Dynamic capabilities and new business models.
Files and other materials of the course are provided by the teacher. It is composed of papers and essays drawn from international reviews and books
Learning Objectives
The course pursues four objectives: 1) to expand the perspective developed during the preceding courses by taking the innovation processes into account. 2) To reinforce the analytical and theoretical framework by developing the awareness of importance of concepts relating to system thinking. 3) To foster the acquisition of a set of basic concepts in order to analyse innovation dynamics: taxonomy of innovations; techno-economic trajectories; complex adaptive systems; analytical and computational devices for representing the evolution of economies.
Prerequisites
Previous recommended examinations: Political Economy, International Economy, Econometrics.
Teaching Methods
E-lessons due to pandemic
Further information
if students want to learn more about topics touched on during the course, they can ask the teacher for advice, who hopes to be able to help broaden their knowledge base.
Type of Assessment
ACHIEVEMENT TEST
Written test (6-9 credits).
Attending students can choose different forms: written/oral test; reports.
Attendance is not compulsory, but we strongly recommend it.
Course program
SYLLABUS OF ECONOMICS OF INNOVATION 2020-2021, 6 CREDITS
(PROF. MAURO LOMBARDI)
Economic systems all over the world are involved in a global dynamics, which has been triggered by what has been called permanent innovation on a global scale.
Now we are at the height of peculiar historical phase, during which a techno-economic revolution is unfolding, centred on the spreading of information and knowledge, which are applied to devices producing information and knowledge within a cumulative feedback cycle between innovation and its use.
GOALS
KNOWLEDGE:
The course pursues four objectives: 1) to expand the perspective developed during the preceding courses by taking the innovation processes into account. 2) To reinforce the analytical and theoretical framework by developing the awareness of importance of concepts relating to system thinking. 3) To foster the acquisition of a set of basic concepts in order to analyse innovation dynamics: taxonomy of innovations; techno-economic trajectories; complex adaptive systems; analytical and computational devices for representing the evolution of economies.
COMPETENCES:
The aim is to allow students to acquire basic theoretical and empirical frameworks in order to enable them to deepen techno-productive dynamics at an international level.
ACQUIRED CAPACITIES THROUGH THE COURSE:
The students will be able to effectively use conceptual and analytical devices in order to produce and verify research lines, centred on given economic and social contexts.
Detailed Program: 6 credits exam
The program is based on building blocks, that are of tightly linked concepts.
1. Outline of the course: Building Blocks
I. The digital age we are living in: The second economy (Arthur), Ubicomp (ubiquitous computing), “calm technology” (Weiser, 1991, 1993).
II. The age of the spiritual machine (Kurzweil): what technology is. The starting point: the invention of invention (Landes, 1998)
III. Technology and the Economy: some stylized facts
IV. Taxonomy of innovations: radical, incremental, modular, architectural
V. Technological paradigms, technological trajectories, techno-economic landscapes
VI. Different approaches to the analysis of production processes. Innovation processes between path-dependence and path-creation
VII Decision making processes: 1) standard mainstream paradigm, 2) Evolutionary approach
VIII The agents of techno-economic dynamics: individuals, firms, socio-technical systems
IX Basic concepts for the current Century (I): systems and complex systems
X Basic concepts for the current Century (II): disruptive technologies, big data and data analytics, augmented reality, cloud computing,. and their consequences for business models
Synthetic Program:
Digital age. Data, information, knowledge. Technological trajectories and evolutions of techno-economic paradigms. Different approaches for analysing decision making processes. Morphological dynamics of firms and economic systems. Dynamics of socio-technical systems. Dynamic capabilities and new business models.
Files and other materials of the course are provided by the teacher. It is composed of papers and essays drawn from international reviews and books
PREREQUISITES
Previous recommended examinations: Political Economy, International Economy, Econometrics.
ACHIEVEMENT TEST
Written test (6-9 credits).
Attending students can choose different forms: written/oral test; reports.
Attendance is not compulsory, but we strongly recommend it.