Labour markets and innovation

This research project is led by the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (UCL IIPP).
Explore all IIPP research projects here. 

Dates of the project: 2020

What are the challenges of labour markets and innovation 

The Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) seeks to investigate what labour market policies encourage public purpose-oriented innovation. In doing so, we understand innovation to be both a matter of technology and of institutions. We see the National Health Service, the jet engine, and the comprehensive aviation safety checklist all as critical positive post-war innovation. And we see the process of innovation encompassing basic research, development of market-ready ideas, and the deployment of those ideas.  

Our Approach 

We ask traditional economic questions like, “what types of worker voice and worker protection leads to greater worker involvement in innovation within the firm?”  But we also ask innovative interdisciplinary questions like, “what are the consequences of wage stagnation for public funding of basic research” and “how does economic insecurity create the preconditions for political mobilisation against policy-driven innovation by business incumbents?”. 

Why This Matters 

Because of their centrality to the shaping of economies and societies, labour markets tend to be shaped more than most markets by public policy. Yet it is relatively rare to see scholars or policymakers explicitly articulate the goals of labour market policy beyond statements about the desire to create more jobs. 

Resources 

Funder

This project is funded by the Ford Foundation. 

This research project is led by the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (UCL IIPP).
Explore all IIPP research projects here.