How academia can (and should) support policymakers

In this webinar, Professor Mariana Mazzucato, the Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, will discuss the need for new economic thinking to support effective policy, in conversation with Professor Carlota Perez and YSI. This discussion will explore the broader relationship between theory and practice, and between academia and policymakers.

Dissatisfied with standard economics Prof. Mazzucato has made major theoretical contributions in several books and articles—from the Entrepreneurial State to the Value of Everything, Mission Economy and more recently The Big Con. She challenges orthodox thinking about the role of the state and the private sector in driving innovation; how economic value is created, measured and shared; and how market-shaping policy can be designed in a ‘mission-oriented way’ to solve the grand challenges facing humanity—but only if the capacity of the public sector is not outsourced away. The new economic thinking she advocates is based on new concepts of market shaping (not fixing), public value and public purpose– contributions that have earned her several globally important awards.

She currently advises policy makers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth. Her current roles include being Chair of the World Health Organization’s Council on the Economics of Health for All, Co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, Co-Chair on the Council on Urban Initiatives, member of the South African President’s Economic Advisory Council, the UN High Level Advisory Board for Economic and Social Affairs, the European Space Agency’s High-Level Advisory Group on Human and Robotic Space Exploration for Europe, Argentina’s Economic and Social Council and Vinnova’s Advisory Panel in Sweden and the OECD High-Level Advisory Panel on Climate and Economic Resilience.

Through her role as Special Advisor for the EC Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation (2017-2019), she authored the high-impact report on Mission-Oriented Research and Innovation in the European Union, turning “missions” into a crucial new instrument in the EU’s Horizon innovation programme, and more recently, authored a report for the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on transformational change with a mission-oriented approach.

The Institute she founded at UCL offers uses a ‘practice based theorising’ approach, bringing learning from the ground (practice and policy), to the theoretical research, and even the curriculum for a bold new Masters in Public Administration programme.

In the second half of the webinar, the floor will be open for the audience to present questions and interact with the speaker in order to derive lessons about the relationship between academia and policymaking, its challenges and motivations.