Skip to main content
UCL Logo Navigate back to homepage

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Study

    Study

    • Study at UCL
    • Undergraduate courses
    • Graduate courses
    • Short courses
    • Study abroad
    • Centre for Languages & International Education
  • Research

    Research

    • Research at UCL
    • Engage with us
    • Explore our Research
    • Initiatives and networks
    • Research news
  • Engage

    Engage

    • Engage with UCL
    • Alumni
    • Business partnerships and collaboration
    • Global engagement
    • News and Media relations
    • Public Policy
    • Schools and priority groups
    • Give to UCL
  • About

    About

    • About UCL
    • Who we are
    • Faculties
    • Governance
    • President and Provost
    • Strategy
    • UCL's Bicentenary
  • UCL Logo Active parent page: UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment
    • Study
    • Active parent page: Research
    • Our schools and institutes
    • People
    • Ideas
    • Engage
    • News and Events
    • About

Rethinking the social contract between the state and business

This working paper calls for new economic thinking. It summarises how leveraging conditionalities in a challenge-driven and outcomes-oriented way can help direct innovation and shape markets.

Rethinking the social contract between the state and business

Breadcrumb trail

  • UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment

Faculty menu

  • Research projects
  • Current page: Research publications
  • REF 2021
  • Ethics in the built environment
  • Impact at The Bartlett
  • UCL Royal Academy of Engineering, Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Design
  • The Building Envelope Research Network
  • UCL Circularity Hub

Breadcrumb trail

  • UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment
  • Research
  • Rethinking the social contract between the state and business

This working paper is part of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose’s (UCL IIPP) publication series.

Explore more working papers and policy reports here.

 

Download working paper

Rethinking the social contract between the state and business: A new approach to industrial strategy with conditionalities

UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) Working Paper Series: IIPP WP 2022/18

Author:

  • Mariana Mazzucato | Founding Director and Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP)

Reference:

Mazzucato, M. (2022). Rethinking the social contract between the state and business: A new approach to industrial strategy with conditionalities. UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Working Paper Series (IIPP WP 2022-18). https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/wp2022-18.

Abstract:

Governments around the world are embracing industrial strategy to foster innovation and economic growth. To ensure this growth is inclusive and sustainable, investments must be directed towards clear goals and made conditional on recipients meeting requirements aligned with these goals - such as a just green transition. This working paper explores the opportunity for the governments to leverage conditionalities to shape and direct public funding, with a view to maximising the public value of this funding. This means redesigning the very contracts that define the relationship between the public and private sectors. This working paper considers six international cases from various countries - Germany, France, UK, South Korea, Scotland and Israel - to analyse how conditionalities have been designed, implemented, and governed to stimulate innovation and investment that contributes to inclusive and sustainable growth. Specifically, these cases outline four ways in which conditionalities can be leveraged: namely, to (1) increase access to goods and services, (2) direct investment towards climate-friendly goals, (3) profit-share with a wider range of stakeholders, and (4) reinvest in productive business activities, such as R&D and worker training.

This working paper is part of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose’s (UCL IIPP) publication series.

Explore more working papers and policy reports here.

UCL footer

Visit

  • Bloomsbury Theatre and Studio
  • Library, Museums and Collections
  • UCL Maps
  • UCL Shop
  • Contact UCL

Students

  • Accommodation
  • Current Students
  • Moodle
  • Students' Union

Staff

  • Inside UCL
  • Staff Intranet
  • Work at UCL
  • Human Resources
UCL Logo

University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7679 2000

UCL social media menu

  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to TikTok
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Bluesky
  • Link to Threads
  • Link to Soundcloud
Here, it can happen.
Back to top

Essential

  • Disclaimer
  • Freedom of Information
  • Accessibility
  • Cookies
  • Privacy
  • Slavery statement
  • Log in

© 2026 UCL