Innovation and economic change

This article takes stock of the search for effectively integrating the analysis of technological change in economic theory, pointing out the need for bridging Schumpeterian and evolutionary perspectives on innovation with post-Keynesian approaches to growth and structural change. The challenge facing scholars in this field is to account for the diversity and complexity of technological change while addressing at the same time macroeconomic and structural dynamics, issues of demand and distribution. This challenge is addressed in various ways by the articles published in this special issue of Economics of Innovation and New Technologies and a summary of their contribution is provided in this opening article. They have in common an exploration on issues at the frontier of innovation research, attention to industry-level dynamics, novel – and widely different - methodological and modelling tools. The results of these articles are discussed in the light of the research trajectories investigating the two-way links between innovation and economic change.

This essay takes stock of the search for effectively integrating the analysis of technological change in economic theory, pointing out the need for bridging Schumpeterian and evolutionary perspectives on innovation with post-Keynesian approaches to growth and structural change. The challenge facing scholars in this field is to account for the diversity and complexity of technological change while addressing at the same time macroeconomic and structural dynamics, issues of demand and distribution. This challenge is addressed in various ways by the articles published in this special issue of Economics of Innovation and New Technologies and a summary of their contribution is provided in this opening article. They have in common an exploration on issues at the frontier of innovation research, attention to industry-level dynamics, novel–and widely different–methodological and modelling tools. The results of these articles are discussed in the light of the research trajectories investigating the two-way links between innovation and economic change.