Work Packages

WP1 – Innovation, technological dynamics and productivity growth

The objective of WP1 is to identify possible changes in the rates and directions of innovative activities and behind that the ‘deep drivers’ of changes in both productivities and product innovation. In order to do that, WP1 addresses: (i) the dynamics of the major technological trajectories and, in particular, those associated with a possible ‘IV industrial revolution’; (ii) the underlying changes in the relationship between science and technology; (iii) the changes in the sources in innovative knowledge and in their modes of application; (iv) the patters of innovation diffusion; (v) the major actors involved in both the generation and adoption of new technologies.

WP1 tasks:

  • Old and emerging technological trajectories. A ‘IV industrial revolution’?
  • The changing relations between science and technology
  • The changing balance between product and process innovation: any evidence?
  • Innovation diffusion and ‘retardation factors’ in the diffusion and exploitation of new technologies
  • Policies and their impact on the rates and directions of innovative activities

WP2 – Structural change within and between countries

WP2 addresses three major, albeit inter-related, dynamics. First, the diverging patterns of innovation and productivity growth across products and sectors; second the related processes of structural change with its shifts in demand and employment; and third the relocation of value added across countries, sectors and social groups within international value chains. In that, a major first objective concerns the precise identification of the patterns in all three domains, giving substance to purported tendencies such as ‘de-industrialization’, ‘servitization’, ‘financialization’, ‘globalization of economic activities’. Moreover, WP2 addresses the underlying drivers and the ensuing consequences in terms of growth, employment and welfare.

WP2 tasks:

  • Secular and more recent patterns of structural change
  • The dynamics of global value chains
  • The interactions between technical change, globalization and institutional changes, and their effects on employment and income distribution
  • The impact of process vs. product innovations on sectoral dynamics
  • A major issue: measurement in information-intensive, service-intensive economies

WP3 – The microeconomics of the drivers and effects of productivity changes

The objectives WP3 are to study the microeconomic drivers and effects of productivity changes. In particular, the main objectives are: (i) Characterize the firms in terms of technological capabilities, R&D efforts, and innovation activities and influence performances; (ii) study the processes of firm growth, entry and exit, and rates of job creation and destruction; (iii) understand the role of SMEs in industry dynamics; (iv) study the interplay between productivity, global value chains and firm export participation (v) gain a deeper understanding of the increased inter-firm intra-sectoral heterogeneity in productivities, and of the emergence of globalized super-star firms; (vi) assess the role of intangible assets and robots in firm productivity dynamics and employment dynamics.

WP3 tasks:

  • Technological capabilities, R&D efforts, and innovation activities: the micro-drivers of productivity growth
  • Innovation and firm growth
  • Patterns of reallocation dynamics
  • Incumbents and entrants as carriers of innovation and productivity growth
  • SMEs and industry dynamics
  • ‘The best vs. the rest’: causes and consequences of increased polarization
  • International activity, innovation and employment dynamics
  • Intangible assets and robots in firm productivity and employment dynamics
  • Competition from innovation

WP 4 – From micro to macro: theory and empirics

Building on the empirical evidence produced by the WPs 1-3, WP5 studies from both a theoretical and empirical perspective: (i) the possible nexuses linking firm innovative performances, and structural-change processes to productivity, employment and output dynamics; (ii) how macroeconomic conditions (e.g. income distribution) and institutional regimes (e.g. labour-industrial relations) can catalyze firms’ innovations and promote virtuous patterns of technical change (iii) study the process of productivity and inclusive and sustainable GDP growth by employing alternative macroeconomic indicators which encompass issues related to inequality, climate change and well-being. To analyze these phenomena WP5 develops a new generation of macroeconomic agent-based models which endogenously account for the interrelation between science and technology, firms’ innovation, workers’ skill dynamics, employment patterns, and structural change in alternative institutional setups in the goods and labour markets.

WP4 tasks:

  • Assessing the role of science-industry relations on innovation and productivity growth
  • Fiscal vs. mission-oriented multipliers
  • An agent-based model assessing the macroeconomic impact of structural change and global value chain dynamics
  • The labour creation/destruction impact of innovation
  • Wage-labour nexus, industrial dynamics and technological regimes
  • The multifaceted relation between income distribution, innovation and economic dynamics
  • Network based indicators of technological and environmental impacts of productive activities
  • Inclusive and sustainable growth beyond the GDP

WP5 – An integrated policy toolkit to face societal challenges

Leveraging on the empirical and theoretical results of the previous work packages, WP6 provides an ensemble of policies to revamp productivity and employment growth, while trying to address societal challenges such as ageing population and climate change. More specifically, WP6 develops a policy toolkit encompassing innovation, industrial, fiscal, monetary and macro-prudential policies to: (i) promote the generation of scientific knowledge; (ii) spur public and private R&D investment and innovation, especially via mission-oriented policies; (iii) promote a stable macroeconomic environment leading to smart, inclusive and sustainable growth.

The foregoing policies are tested employing the family of agent-based models developed in WP4, providing the short- and long-run impact of different interventions under different institutional scenarios.

WP5 tasks:

  • How to promote the generation of scientific knowledge?
  • The role of mission-oriented programs vs. horizontal policies for technological innovation
  • The possible long-run impact of fiscal, monetary and macroprudential policies
  • Towards a European innovation-friendly framework for productivity growth
  • Redesigning the welfare state and improving the dynamic capabilities in the public sector
  • A user-friendly, online integrated policy toolkit

WP6 – Disseminating the results: societal challenges and stakeholders’ engagement

WP6 focuses on the dissemination of the results. Dissemination activities are organized along three main pillars: (i) Organize an open consultation on the research topics and policy implications of GROWINPRO with actors from civil society, business firms and policy makers, thus, creating the conditions for systematic and fruitful exchanges between researchers and stakeholders; (ii) create a Mission-Oriented Innovation Network (MOIN) which provides a policy framework and platform for public and civil society organizations to engage with the work of the project with a particular focus on grand societal challenges (iii) ensure systematic dissemination of results in the media, among scholars, business firms, civil society and policy makers.

WP6 tasks:

  • Website, social media, and newsletter
  • Scientific dissemination
  • Media dissemination
  • A Mission Oriented Innovation Network (MOIN) for societal challenges
  • Stakeholder engagement and dialogue
  • Disseminating results and policy implications

WP7 – Project management and coordination

WP7 deals with project management and coordination activities. It aims at developing a clear management strategy with the following main objectives:

1. Organize Advisory Boards and Project Management Committee meetings

2. Promote and coordinate interactions among partners and with stakeholders

3. Maximize synergies and reduce duplication of research efforts

4. Monitor the timing and quality of the work

5. Facilitate the production and sharing across partners of new data sources and statistical indicators

6. Ensure the implementation of user-friendly online versions of models developed by researchers and diffuse them to policy makers

7. Organize the largest possible dissemination of results