Main areas of research of LEM central to the DIME proposal include:

• the "stylized facts" of industrial evolution
• patterns of knowledge accumulation and industrial dynamics
• capability-based theories of the firm and the related evidence
• the mechanisms of appropriation of knowledge - including IPR - and their economic impact
• processes of technological learning, entrepreneurship and start-ups
• network dynamics: evidence and models
• institutions, knowledge distribution and market dynamics
• sectoral characteristics of learning processes and the patterns of spatial agglomeration of economic activities
• macroeconomic dynamics as emergent properties microfounded into heterogeneous learning dynamics
• technological knowledge and international trade