Economics
Boosting technology development through mission-oriented policy mechanisms
Most western countries – including innovation champions such as the USA – have a tradition of mission-oriented policy. These policies pursue the goal of supporting a particular set of new technologies. As such, they involve preferential interventions towards a certain technological domain and can be characterised by a higher degree of intentionality, prioritisation and centralisation than the standard policies focusing on framework conditions.Read more
Patents and innovation – a difficult case for economists!
Economists are sometimes disappointing; they struggle to take sides. It’s the famous story of President Truman’s chief economist who couldn’t give a fixed opinion on most subjects of economic policy. It was always “on the one hand... on the other hand“ to the point that one day, exasperated, Truman exclaimed – “Someone please bring me a one-handed economist!“. Read more