5th SEEK Conference

Overcoming the Crisis: How to Foster Innovation and Entrepreneurship in a Diverging European Economy

5th SEEK Conference (Mannheim, October 8-9, 2015)

The financial crisis and the future of the European Union are still in the focus of the academic and policy debates. A strategy to achieve recovery in Europe refers to boosting investment in infrastructures and R&D, innovation, and entrepreneurship to generate sustainable economic growth. This 5th annual conference of the ZEW research programme "Strengthening Efficiency and Competitiveness in the European Knowledge Economies" (SEEK) brings together policy-makers, business leaders and outstanding scholars. They will discuss if the European economic environment is sufficiently conducive to the creation of new business and which key factors and policies are missing to effectively foster entrepreneurial success.

The academic sessions will focus on three main topics: I. Fostering effective innovation and technology adoption II. The impact of ICT on productivity and growth III. Competition and regulation.

We seek high-quality academic papers in the following areas:

  • R&D and innovation policy
  • Industry-science links
  • Innovation and growth
  • Open innovation and IPR systems
  • ICT-enabled innovation and growth
  • Digitalisation and firm strategies
  • Digital networks and peerproductivity
  • Competition, regulation and technological progress in network industries
  • Innovation in network industries and externalities
  • Joint R&D strategies and standardisation in network industries