Dominique Foray | EPFL Graph Search

1 - Current occupations and activities I am Full Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and hold the Chair of Economics and Management of Innovation (CEMI). I am a member of the Swiss Council for Science (SWR); chairman of the Advisory Board of the Swiss Economic Research Institute (KOF); and a foreign member of the Center of Capitalism and Society (Columbia University, New York). From 2007 to 2015, I served as a member of the Swiss National Research Council (Division IV - Large Scale Programs) From 2013 to 2016, I was a member of the Expert Commission for Research and Innovation of Germany (E-FI) and a member of the Expert Group for the National Report on Research and Innovation (SBFI, Switzerland). From 2008 to 2011, I served as chairman of the expert group Knowledge for Growth; a group of prominent economists created to advise Commissioner J. Potocnik (European Commission, DG research). This is during this service as member of this Group that I developed the concept of smart specialisation (together with P.A.David and B.Hall) that is now a key policy mechanism of the EU (cohesion policy). My expertise includes the economics of innovation and knowledge and the economic policy implications of the new knowledge-based economy. I have presented many opening speeches and key note address in academic and policy conferences on these topics. I have written numerous academic papers as well as two books and have edited several books and special issues in these fields. Among these books,I like to highlight : Technology and the Wealth of Nations (Pinter, 1992) ed.with C.Freeman; Unemployment and Growth in the Knowledge-based Economy (OECD, 1996), ed. with B.A.Lundvall; Knowledge economies and societies (a special issue of the International Social Science Journal, Basil Blackwell, 2002, with editions in French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabs, Russian); The Economics of knowledge (MIT press, 2004, paperback in 2006) with editions in France, Italy, Korea, China, Greece, Syria and Algeria The New Economics of Technology Policy(Edward Elgar)2009, ed.; . Smart specialisation : opportunities and challenges for regional innovation policy(Routledge, 2015) Since 2017, I regularly contribute to the Swiss Science Council blog: https://blog.wissenschaftsrat.ch/ 2 Education, previous appointments and academic positions - I received my Ph.D. in economics in 1984 and my "habilitation à diriger des recherches" in 1992 from the University Lumière of Lyon. - In 1985, I joined the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) as a Research Fellow in economics. - In 1990, I joined the Ecole Centrale de Paris as professor of economics, and taught in the program ingénieur économiste. - In 1993, I was nominated as Research Director at CNRS and joined the Institut pour le Management de la Recherche et de l'Innovation (IMRI) of the University of Paris-Dauphine. - In 2001-2004, I worked as a Principal Analyst at the Center for Education, Research and Innovation of OECD (Paris). - I joined the EPFL as Professeur Ordinaire in 2004. 3 - Honours and awards Best young economist award - City of Lyon (France)1986 Outstanding research in 1995 (médaille du CNRS)(France) Futuris award in 2012 for his work on smart specialisation Best paper award, EJIM, 2014 Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Cluj Napoca, 2017 I was also elected as Research Fellow at ICER (International Center for Economic Research) in Turin, at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin and at IIASA in Laxenburg; and I was Invited Professor at the Universities of Santiago de Compostela, Torino and Padova. 4 - Consulting activities I have done consulting work for the UNESCO, the OECD, WIPO, UNCTAD, UN/ECE, the European Commission, the Swiss Government and other public organisations. I am currently strongly involved into the "smart specialisation" debate in Europe, giving talks and providing advices in many countries and regions in Europe.

The Economics of Incomplete Plan - on Conditions, Procedures and Design of Future Mission - Oriented Innovation Policies

Dominique Foray

The buzzword in industrial policy and innovation policy circles is mission-oriented innovation policy (MOIP) -which means a policy to encourage innovation intended to accomplish a certain missionwhether it be a societal challenge (climate change, global health) or an industrial policy issue (sectoral transition or modernisation, establishment of a new industry). This new category results from what seems a priori to be just a simple qualifying extension of mission-oriented policies (MOPs) -very much in vogue in the 70's and 80's and used particularly in sectors like space and defence. However, this 'simple' qualifying extension does in fact cause a significant discontinuity that merits reflection. While a mission imposes a discipline and centralised priorities and decisions, innovation on the other hand can't be planned. Innovation is so uncertain that no plan will ever enable it to be tamed. There is thus a tension between mission and innovation, between a planning logic and a freedom to experiment logic. This tension implies thus advancing our knowledge about MOIP design, which is the goal of this paper.

INST ESTUDIOS FISCALES2022

On the economics of social innovation - a conceptual framework and its policy implications

Dominique Foray

Social innovation addressing social, economic and environmental challenges are increasingly recognized as crucial drivers of social changes. However, the concept of social innovation remains vague. This paper builds a conceptual framework from an economic perspective: the main criterion for identifying a social innovation concerns the way the benefits generated by an innovation are distributed between the (private or public) innovator and society. We close the paper by an extensive discussion of the conceptual boundaries, the research agenda and the policy implications we can derive based on the Framework.

2020

Six additional replies - one more chorus of the S3 ballad

Dominique Foray

This paper has been written as a response to 'Six additional questions about smart specialization: implications for regional innovation policy 4.0' by M. Benner. The paper starts with the argument that recent academic work has enabled considerable progress to be made, regarding both the concept and its implementation, while, on the other hand, the actual practical implementations have not evolved very much and remain strongly marked by the original instructions given by the Commission and its experts. A logical consequence of such discrepancy between theory and actual practice is that the questions asked or criticisms expressed should always clearly specify whether they concern the theory or actual implementation of this theory. They should thus endeavour to avoid confusing the two levels. The paper shows then that this is not really the case in Benner's article.

ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD2020