GSSS 2018

Sixth Graz Schumpeter Summer School

September 9-13, 2018

Smart Technologies - a New Industrial Age?
Approaches to Radical Innovation and Economic Transformation

Modern economies are currently subject to a technological transformation about which widely divergent views are put forward. Some believe that disruptive innovations will trigger a fourth industrial revolution boosting economic growth, whereas others see the specter of persistent and massive technological unemployment haunting modern society. What to make of this? For economists, it evokes a number of more specific and far-reaching questions, such as:

Which forms of technological change do we face? In which respects do they differ from forms experienced in the past?
How pervasive are radical innovations, and what about the systemic impact of a new general purpose technology?
What are the consequences of automation and digitalisation on employment, social inequality and wellbeing?
Can we diagnose implications for key features of the institutional regime, such as property rights, contract governance, informational decentralisation, and mechanisms of change?
Does all this add new dimensions to the process of globalisation, and which socio-economic and environmental benefits and risks are involved in this for developed and developing regions?

The Summer School will deal with theories, analytical tools and empirical evidence to tackle the problems at hand. Invited lecturers will expose junior fellows to the most advanced methods and approaches in the area of innovation and technological change. Thematic workshops are scheduled in which participants may present their own work. We invite pre-docs and post-docs with an interest in fields such as innovation Research, the economics of technological change and knowledge, institutional economics, and structural change. Scholars approaching issues and theories of technological change and economic transformation from a historical point of view are also highly welcome.

Lectures will be given by:

Uwe Cantner, University of Jena, Germany

Ina Drejer, Aalborg University, Denmark

Michael Peneder, Austrian Institute of Economic Research, Austria

Pier Paolo Saviotti, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Italy

Heinz D. Kurz, University of Graz, Austria

Call for Applications