Innovation, Institutions and Governance

Sep 16–19, 2017 Download .ics

Tallinn, Estonia  |

The YSI Economics of Innovation Working Group in partnership with the Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology is hosting a YSI Conference on “Innovation, Institutions and Governance”.

The YSI Economics of Innovation Working Group in partnership with the Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology, is hosting a Conference for young scholars “Innovation, Institutions and Governance” during 16-19 September, 2017.

Detailed Programme

September 16 (Saturday)

morning: arrivals

13:00 – 13:30 welcome coffee, opening words, presentation by the Ragnar Nurkse Department

13:30 – 16:00 workshop I ‘Capitalism and Innovation: The long view’ by Erik Reinert

16:00 – 16:30 coffee break

16:30 – 19:00 workshop II ‘Unleashing the golden Age of the ICT revolution’ by Carlota Perez

20:00 welcome dinner for all participants (at the hotel)


September 17 (Sunday)

8:45 – 9:00 morning coffee

9:00 – 12:00 presentations of papers (parallel sessions)

12:00 – 13:00 lunch

13:00 – 15:30 workshop III ‘Innovation and the State’ by Dan Breznitz

15:30 – 16:00 coffee break

16:00 – 18:30 presentation of papers (parallel sessions)


September 18 (Monday)

8:45 – 9:00 morning coffee

9:00 – 11:30 workshop IV ‘Capital in Economic Theory & History’ by Mary O’Sullivan 

11:30 – 12:30 lunch

12:30 – 15:00 workshop V ‘Markets, Speculation and the State’ by William Janeway

15:00 – 15:30 coffee break

15:30 – 17:00 talk ‘Innovation and Technology from a non-Western perspective’ by Wolfgang Drechsler


September 19 (Tuesday)

9:00 – 10:15 presentation of e-Estonia showroom

10:15 – 10:30 coffee break

10:30 – 12:00 round table I ‘Digital Governance: e-Residency’

12:00 – 12:15 coffee break

12:15 – 13:45 round table II ‘Data Analytics in Public Policy: Estonian Tax Board’

14:00 – 15:30 farewell lunch (in town)

15:30 – 17:30 Old Town guided tour 

Practicalities: accommodation is provided to all presenting participants during 16-19 September (three nights); travel stipends (100 USD or 90 EUR) will be distributed upon presenting travel receipts via dedicated YSI online facility after the event.

For more details regarding academic programme as well as practicalities please follow regular updates on the event’s page by the Ragnar Nurkse Department.

For inquiries please contact the organizers Olga Mikheeva, Besiana Balla, and Laurène Tran via [email protected].

Submission of full papers: September 1


Call for Papers [now closed]

Capitalist economies are dynamic systems that evolve while putting into motion structural, technological, and socio-political changes. Not only Veblen believed that Economics is an evolutionary science but also Sombart, Schmoller, Marx, Schumpeter, Nelson and to some extent Keynes, Braudel, Galbraith among others. Yet, the recognition of historical nature of capitalist configurations and of interdependence between various spheres (economy, polity, society) keeps being disregarded by self-regulated market ideology. To move away from such a constraining vision we seek to bring together scholars working on various types and aspects of innovation, which is a multi-faceted phenomenon. The conference welcomes contributions from any field in economics and related disciplines, which address (but not limited to) the following issues in particular: 

·         Institutional and organizational dimension

o    Innovation and organizational learning

o    Financing of innovation

o    Financial innovations

o    Labor studies and innovation

o    Development and innovation

·         Historical dimension

o    How can we study epochal innovations?

o    Business history of innovation

o    Development and innovation

·         Policy and governance dimension

o    The making of STI policies

o    National agencies in charge of innovation  

o    EU innovation policies and Smart Specialization

The format of the conference will be interactive and includes presentation of papers by participants; interactive workshops with leading scholars of innovation such as Carlota Perez (London School of Economics/Tallinn University of Technology), Mary O’Sullivan (University of Geneva), Erik S. Reinert (Tallinn University of Technology/The Other Canon Foundation), Dan Breznitz (Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto), William Janeway (Warburg Pincus/Cambridge University), and round tables with local policy-makers and representatives from local business community.

Submission of abstracts (500 words): May 1

Partners and sponsors