We are in the midst of significant structural but also political changes at the global level. Until recently, we were talking about possible geographical shifts in global value chains due to the emergent players such as BRICs. Now, we seem to be confronted with broader political shifts in the recognition of the importance of knowledge accumulation, and in particular innovation, for long term economic competiveness. Innovation, in a much more generic meaning than just research, seems to play an all important and crucial role in explaining this shift. Yet we appear today confronted just as in the 80's with lack a productivity paradox. A lack of evidence that all those radical new technologies of micro-electronics in the 80's and digital technologies today contribute in a meaningful way to increased efficiency and welfare. Yet, from a policy perspective, innovation appears practically by definition "good for you"...
Isn't it time to reflect in more thorough way on the various different and sometimes contradictory features of innovation, not just as an automatic Schumpeterian process of "creative destruction" but also as now and then an opposite process of "destructive creation"? The speaker has been at the forefront of innovation research for more than thirty years. He will touch on his historical perspectives on changing societies and economies by reflecting what has Innovation studies elucidated so far and what is not understood and discuss his forward-looking view on the future direction of innovation research.
Luc Soete research is strongly embedded in what has become known today as innovation studies. This broad multi-disciplinary field which focuses on the nature, origin and determinants of innovation in its different forms has witnessed an enormous expansion over the last decades.
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