• Week 2: More science fiction? The quest for nuclear fusion and the case of public v private R&D

    Last week, we used driverless cars (which even a few year’s ago seemed more science fiction than reality) as a case for how a disruptive technology might challenge existing industry structures and may be leading firms to take R&D more … Continued

  • Week 1 Topic: Placing Bets on the Future — Automotive R&D, Driverless Cars and Innovation as Disruption

    In my original tweet, earlier today I responded to Anne Glover, the EC’s Chief Scientific Advisor, who was pointing out the importance of the automotive industry to European R&D.  She was undoubtedly referring to work of the Joint Research Centre, which in … Continued

  • Summer Reading List 2014

    Welcome to Cambridge! Summer may be over, but it seems fitting to begin the academic year with our summer reading list since that is meant to provide the most general overview and entry point to the programme and to thinking about the interactions … Continued

  • Data Protection Debates: Week 8

    I have generally tried to stay away from EU Science and Technology Policy issues since that is the  focus of TP3 in Easter term, but following on the DG-Connect talk, some of the legal and policy questions we touched on … Continued

  • The war on coal?

    Is banning coal an objective in and of itself or just one of many measures to address climate change and local and regional pollution problems? Is a war on coal a proxy for a war on climate change and, if … Continued

  • Week 6: Spectrum auctions

    The starting point for this week’s discussion is the report Maximizing the Success of the Incentive Auction by Fred B Campbell, who, we are are told is the former Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau for the US Federal Communications Commission. Who is … Continued