This course looks at the role of innovation in the modern economy. The main goal of the course is to understand how firms’ innovation strategies affect (and are affected by) the economic, technological and social context which surrounds them. To achieve this goal students are required to write (in small groups) a business case which focuses on defining an appropriate innovation strategy for an existing or start-up firm depending on four different hypothetical scenarios which might characterize the Netherlands’ economy and society in 2040.

This is a course about innovation and how firms, in interaction with their technological, economic, and social environment, create, use, and take advantage of it. To tackle these issues, the course combines a theoretical perspective with highly practical elements on innovation processes in firms. What distinguishes this course from other courses on innovation in your study program is its explicit focus on the broader economic context of innovation. In other words, this course does not just look at what happens within the innovating firm or its immediate environment but also considers the impact of innovation on the economy as a whole. The course aims to answer the following main questions:
* What is an innovative firm?
* What are the other actors of the economic context in which firms operate?
* How do firms interact in the economic context?
* What are (for firms) the capabilities needed to adapt to changes and to sustain innovation processes?
* How can firms be incentivized to innovate?

* Agrawal, A., Gans J., and Goldfard, A. (2019) Economic Policy for Artificial Intelligence. Innovation Policy and the Economy. Volume 19. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/699935
* Dahlman, C. (2010). Innovation Strategies in Brazil, China, and India: From Imitation to Deepening Technological Capability in the South, In X. Fu and L. Soete (eds.) The Rise of Technological Power in the South, pp. 15-48. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan
* Feldman, M. P., and Kogler, D. F. (2010), "Stylized Facts in the Geography of Innovation," In B. H. Hall and N. Rosenberg (eds), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Volume 1, Chapter 8, pp. 381-410, Amsterdam, North-Holland: Elsevier.
* Giuliani, E., Pietrobelli, C., and Rabelotti, R. (2005). Upgrading in Global Value Chains: Lessons from Latin American Clusters. World Development 33(4), 549–573
* Greenhalgh, C., & Rogers, M. (2010). Princeton University Press.
- Chapter 1 The Nature and Importance of Innovation (skip section 1.3)
- Chapter 2 The nature and role of intellectual property (pp. 32-55)
- Chapter 4 The National Innovation System
- Chapter 5 Innovative Firms and Markets (only sections 5.1,5.2,5.3,5.4)
- Chapter 6 Intellectual property rights and firms (pp. 149-173)
* Jovanovic, B., and Rousseau, P.L. (2005), "General Purpose Technologies," In P. Aghion and S. N. Durlauf (eds), Handbook of Economic Growth, Volume 1, pp. 1181-1224. Amsterdam, North-Holland: Elsevier.
* Petit, N. and Teece, D. J. (2021) Innovating Big Tech Firms and Competition Policy: Favoring Dynamic Over Static Competition. Industrial and corporate change, Volume 30, Issue 5, 1168-1198.
* Powell, W.W., and Grodal, S. (2004), "Networks of Innovators," In J. Fagerberg, D.C. Mowery and R. R. Nelson (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Innovation, pp. 56-85. New York, NY: Oxford University Press
* Teece, D., and Pisano, G. (1994). The Dynamic Capabilities of Firms: an Introduction. Industrial and corporate change, 3(3), 537-556.
* In Ter Weel, B., van der Horst, A. and G. Gelauff (2010). The Netherlands 2040. CPB Business Report. The Hague, The Netherlands: CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis o The first part of the summary: Summary, pp. 9-19 o Chapter 8: "Unfolding the scenarios," pp. 141- 163
* Von Hippel, E. (2010), "Open user innovation," In B. H. Hall and N. Rosenberg (eds), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Volume 1, Chapter 9, pp. 411-427, Amsterdam, North-Holland: Elsevier.
* Veugelers, R. (2021). How to Accelerate Vaccine Innovation to Counter Future Pandemics. https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economic-issues-watch/how-accelerate-vaccine-innovations-counter-future-pandemics March 24.

• An advanced level of English.