Files and other materials of the course are provided by the teacher. It is composed of papers and essays drawn from internationa reviews and papers published by International Research Centers
Learning Objectives
KNOWLEDGE:
The course pursues four objectives: 1) to expand the perspective developed during the
preceding courses by taking the innovation processes into account. 2) To look into the analysis
of decision processes of economic units by introducing information and knowledge processes
within the economic evaluation. 3) To reinforce the analytical and theoretical framework by
developing the awareness of importance of concepts relating to system thinking. 4) To foster
the acquisition of a set of basic concepts in order to analyse innovation dynamics: taxonomy of
innovations; techno-economic trajectories; complex adaptive systems; analytical and
computational devices for representing the evolution of economies; organizational models such
as hyperstructures, global production networks, and so on.
Prerequisites
Previous recommended examinations: Political Economy, International Economy, Econometrics.
Teaching Methods
Traditional lecture. Students are allowed to select topics and make presentations based on additional materials.
Further information
Synthetic Program:
Digital age. Data, information, knowledge. Technological trajectories and evolutions of techno-economic paradigms. Different approaches for analysing decision making processes. Morphological dynamics of firms and economic systems. Dynamics of socio-technical systems. Dynamic capabilities and new business models.
Type of Assessment
Written Final Exam
5 Questions to be unswered
Attending students can choose different forms: written/oral test; reports.
Attendance is not compulsory, but we strongly recommend it.
Course program
the course.
1. Outline of the course: Building Blocks
2
I. The digital age we are living in: The second economy (Arthur), Ubicomp (ubiquitous computing), “calm technology” (Weiser, 1991, 1993).
II. The age of the spiritual machine (Kurzweil): what technology is. The starting point: the invention of
invention (Landes, 1998)
III. Technology and the Economy: some stylized facts
V. Technological paradigms, technological trajectories, techno-economic landscapes
VI. Different approaches to the analysis of production processes. Innovation processes between path
dependence and path creation
VII. Decision making processes: 1) standard mainstream paradigm, 2) Evolutionary approach
VIII. The agents of techno-economic dynamics: individuals, firms, socio-technical systems
IX. Basic concepts for the current Century (I): systems and complex systems
X. Basic concepts for the current Century (II): disruptive technologies, big data and data analytics, augmented reality, cloud computing,. and their consequences for business models