312001 Innovationsökonomik (Economics of Innovation) (V) (WiSe 2020/2021)

The primary goal of this course is to introduce advanced students in economics and related fields to economic analyses of innovation. Coursework will provide students with concepts of the innovation process, innovation systems and how they translate into technological change. Theoretical models of innovation are discussed with a particular emphasis on firms' incentives to innovate. Topics include the link and interplay between incentives to innovate and the market structure, the interaction between incentives for product and process innovations, the effects of proximity and technological spillover on firms' incentives to innovate.

The course “Economics of innovation” will not take place as live sessions every Thursday at 8:30h. Instead, I will prepare videos and upload them on ekvv, where each video covers a specific topic or sub-topic of the course. This means that a single video does correspond to a 1.5h session, but I will try to provide you each week with an amount of material that, on average, should correspond to the weekly workload. The first video will be available on the regular date of the first session. Moreover, I will organize occasionally virtual open office hours where you can join a zoom meeting to discuss questions regarding the course.