The Barcelona Economics Institute is organizing a meeting entitled Business Innovation: Barriers and Public Policies (30 May) to analyze the obstacles companies have to overcome when they seek to innovate. These barriers include the difficulties firms encounter in accessing financial resources – an obstacle that has become even greater during the current crisis; the restrictions firms face in accessing knowledge; and, the uncertainties of demand.
The first part of the meeting will take a decidedly academic focus and include the presentation of recent studies examining barriers to innovation, their impact on firms and possible public policy responses. The inaugural address (at 10.15 am) will be given by Pierre Mohnen (Maastricht University & MERIT), a leading academic who has centered his research on the effects of R&D on productivity and the efficacy of aid and incentives for innovation. Mohnen has worked as a consultant for the OECD, the European Commission and various European and Canadian government departments. Among the other speakers are P. d’Este (INGENIO CSIC-UPV); G. Pellegrino (IEB) and M. Savona (SPRU), who will analyze various obstacles to innovation. Finally (at 11.45 am), A. Segarra (URV), M. Teruel (URV) and J. Garcia Quevedo (IEB), the coordinator of the meeting, will examine financial barriers to innovation in Spain.
In the afternoon session, experts and representatives of various government bodies will analyze innovation policies in the Spanish state in a roundtable discussion. Participating in this discussion will be María Luisa Poncela, (State Innovation and Competitiveness Office, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness), Juan Mulet (Fundación COTEC), and Francisco Mas Verdú (Universidad Politécnica de Valencia).
The meeting should be of particular interest to researchers, policy makers in the area of innovation, company representatives, Master’s and PhD students, and to all those interested in the analysis of business innovation and policies aimed at promoting R&D.
