The Innovation, Knowledge and Development Centre (IKD) of the Open University is organizing a workshop that aims to bring together researchers interested in the study of the impact of institutions on innovation and industrial change in the context of developing countries and economies in transition. Increasingly researchers and policy makers are paying attention to the influence that the institutional structure has on innovation performance and industrial dynamics – see, for example, the World Bank’s work on business climate and its impact on the economic performance of the developing countries. The growing availability of data at the micro level also makes it possible to study the structure and impact of institutions at a detailed level. For example, recent evidence suggests that much of the adaptive learning processes that take place at the macroeconomic and industry level are in fact underpinned by significant turbulence at the micro level. Sectoral studies are also contributing to our understanding of how systems of interlinked institutions influence the industrial and innovative performance of industries.

Preliminary list of contributors to the workshop: Daniele Archibugi (Italian National Research Council, IRPPS and University of London, Birkbeck), Suma Athreye (Brunel University), Micheline Goedhuys (University of Antwerp and UNU-MERIT) Anabel Marin (SPRU, University of Sussex), Mariana Mazzucato (IKD and INNOGEN, Open University), Martha Prevezer (School of Business and Management, Queen Mary, University of London), Roberta Rabellotti (Faculty of Economics, Università del Piemonte Orientale), Slavo Radosevic (UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies), Khalid Sekkat (DULBEA - Department of Applied Economics, Université Libre de Bruxelles), Sandro Trento (Centro Studi Confindustria).

Limited places are still available in the program. Junior Researchers (PhDs or Post-Docs) are invited to submit papers on the interaction of institutions, innovation and industrial change in developing countries and economies in transition.

Please send full papers to workshop organizers Roberto Simonetti (R.Simonetti@open.ac.uk) or Elif Bascavusoglu (E.Bascavusoglu@open.ac.uk) no later than 15/11/2007.