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  • Innovation, Equity & The Future of Prosperity

Innovation, Equity & The Future of Prosperity

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The benefits of innovation tend to be concentrated to a limited number of industries, regions, and groups. Innovation that exacerbates inequality can undermine public support for science and innovation and contribute to broader political alienation. The Innovation, Equity & the Future of Prosperity program brings together economists, political scientists, engineers, and historians to examine how the policies used to generate and diffuse innovation affect the distribution of opportunities and outcomes in society.

 

RESEARCH AND SOCIETAL IMPACT HIGHLIGHTS

Surveillance innovation and the distribution of resources and opportunities

Program Co-Director Dan Breznitz and Fellow Kenneth Lipartito (Florida International University) are collaborating on a Catalyst Fund project to explore the origins and development of surveillance capitalism — a relatively new concept linked to social media and internet companies that accumulate large quantities of data from their sites and use it to develop profitable products. Breznitz and Lipartito aim to show that what has been missing from the study of surveillance capitalism, and what is needed to address issues of distribution and equity, is an understanding that it is built upon existing technical, legal, and business infrastructures that provide models, norms, and routines to extract and monetize personal information.

Helping to build an innovation-based economy

In May 2021, Co-Director Dan Breznitz (University of Toronto) and Fellow Jane Gingrich (University of Oxford) briefed a joint meeting of the Government of Canada’s Deputy Ministers Committees on Economic Frameworks & Inclusive Growth and Social Development & Wellbeing. The CIFAR fellows and senior civil servants discussed the different levers and approaches policymakers can use to promote an innovation-based economy and the distributive consequences of different innovation policies for promoting more equitable social and economic outcomes.

Fast vs. slow innovation

A team led by Fellow Keun Lee (Seoul National University) is comparing fast innovators with slow innovators and exploring how to close the innovation gap. Lee is comparing three Asian cities — Taipei, Shenzhen, and Penang — to gain insights related to the localization of knowledge, shifts in innovation, and technological diversification. The persuasive powers of robots Fellow Goldie Nejat’s (University of Toronto) most recent work on socially assistive robots focuses on how human-robot interactions are interpreted by humans and under what conditions they contribute to addressing social hardship — especially social isolation in long-term care facilities. Nejat conducted a first-of-its-kind study comparing robots in authority and peer roles with respect to their persuasion abilities. The study showed that people find robots more persuasive when they are cast in peer roles and not as authority figures.

Manufacturing vaccines during a global pandemic

Fellows William Lazonick (The Academic-Industry Research Network) and Andrew Schrank (Brown University) partnered on a Catalyst Fund project to analyze the mass manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines. Their research shows that large pharmaceutical companies paid marginal attention to vaccines before the pandemic. They are investigating the capacity and control associated with the mass production of vaccines while asking to what extent governments, or international bodies such as COVAX, are willing and able to guide vaccination development and distribution.

Founded

2019

Supporters

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Max Bell Foundation, Scotiabank

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Economics
Political Science
Sociology
Engineering
History
Law
Legal Studies
Public Policy
Social Policy

CIFAR Contact

Rachel Parker

Fellows & Advisors

Program Directors

Dan Breznitz

Dan Breznitz

Program Director

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
University of Toronto
Canada
Jane Gingrich

Jane Gingrich

Program Co-Director

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
University of Oxford
United Kingdom
Amos Zehavi

Amos Zehavi

Associate Program Director

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Tel Aviv University
Israel

Fellows

Yochai Benkler

Yochai Benkler

Fellow

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Harvard University
United States
Aldo Geuna

Aldo Geuna

Fellow

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Collegio Carlo Alberto
University of Torino
Italy
Ray Gosine

Ray Gosine

Fellow

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Memorial University
Canada
William Lazonick

William Lazonick

Fellow

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
The Academic-Industry Research Network
United States
Keun Lee

Keun Lee

Fellow

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Seoul National University
Republic of Korea
Kenneth Lipartito

Kenneth Lipartito

Fellow

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Florida International University
United States
Goldie Nejat

Goldie Nejat

Fellow

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
University of Toronto
Canada
Andrew Schrank

Andrew Schrank

Fellow

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Brown University
United States

Advisors

Suzanne Berger

Suzanne Berger

Advisor

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States
Elizabeth Croft

Elizabeth Croft

Advisor

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
University of Victoria
Canada
J. Bradford DeLong

J. Bradford DeLong

Advisor

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
University of California Berkeley
United States
Walter Powell

Walter Powell

Advisor

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Stanford University
United States
Manuel Trajtenberg

Manuel Trajtenberg

Advisor

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Tel Aviv University
Israel

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars

Daniel Aldana Cohen

Daniel Aldana Cohen

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2021-2023

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
University of California Berkeley
United States
Ameet Morjaria

Ameet Morjaria

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2021-2023

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern University
United States
David Y. Yang

David Y. Yang

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2021-2023

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Harvard University
United States
Baobao Zhang

Baobao Zhang

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2021-2023

Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
Syracuse University
United States

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Brief

Briefing to Government of Canada’s Deputy Ministers Committees

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Inclusive Innovation: COVID and After

How can government policies encourage innovation economies that are more inclusive?

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Advances

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Co-directors of CIFAR’s Innovation, Equity & the Future of Prosperity program discuss the economic pie and why we need...

September 03, 2019
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