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Innovation economists present 20 new papers at Zvi Griliches Summer Research Seminar

The 2011 edition of the Zvi Griliches Summer Research Seminar in the Economics of Innovation took place from July 11-13 at Casa Convalescència (UAB). BSE master program alumnus Ricard Esparza '10 participated in the conference and shared this report about the experience:

This year’s Zvi Griliches Summer Seminar brought together the latest research in Economics in the areas of Technological and Scientific Innovation. A total of 20 papers were presented, include three featured as keynotes:

  • John Von Reenen (Center for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, NBER and CEPR)
    "Identifying technology spillovers and product market rivalry"
     
  • Alfonso Gambardella (Università Luiggi Bocconi)
    "The determinants of the private value of patented inventions"
     
  • Fernando Galindo-Rueda (STI Directorate, OECD)
    "Developing internationally comparable statistics on science, technology and innovation: An introduction to the work of the OECD and the Working Party of National Experts in Science and Technology Indicators (NESTI)"

 

Economics of Science and Innovation alumni at GSE summer research seminar
Ricard Esparza '10 (right) talks with MESI director Prof. David Pérez-Castrillo (UAB and GSE) between seminar sessions. Five MESI alumni attended the summer seminar, which is free for the program's graduates.

 

Master program connections

For me, as a graduate of the BSE master program in the Economics of Science and Innovation (MESI), it is very interesting to have a look at new theoretical and empirical studies in the field and see how they fit together with the models studied during the master program. Four or five alumni from the Class of 2011 at the seminar as well. (Conference fees are waived for alumni of this master program.)

The director of the master program, Prof. David Pérez-Castrillo (UAB and GSE) also participated in the research seminar. He presented a paper on "Research output from university-industry collaborative projects" and participated as a discussant in another session. This was an opportunity for alumni to see a research project that one of our professors had been working on outside the classroom.

 

50 participants from 10 countries

Barcelona is a summer hot spot for innovation economists. The Zvi Griliches Summer School is open to participants from all over the world, and it merges points of view between master students, PhD students, policy practitioners, analysts, and academic researchers. This year, we had speakers from 30 universities and research institutions, such as Boston University, the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Germany, and Bank of Italy. Participants came from 10 countries including Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. Having access to these different profiles, all together in Barcelona, makes the Zvi Griliches a unique experience for researchers in the Economics of Innovation.

Economics of Innovation Seminar - BSE Summer Schools in Economics

Participants in the 2011 Zvi Griliches Summer Research Seminar
More photos

 

Paper topics included:

Competitive pressure determinants and innovation at the firm level

Financial systems and corporate innovation: evidence from a quasi-natural experiment

R&D offshoring and the productivity growth of European regions

Knowledge flows through FDI: the case of privatizations in Central and Eastern Europe

Innovation and welfare: results from joint estimation of production and demand functions

The impact of public and private venture capital on the growth of new technology- based firms: European evidence

Academic patenting: opportunity, support or attitude?

Stars and comets: an exploration of the patent universe

 

Full list of papers [pdf]

See photos from the event