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81. Place of crowdfunding in financing investment projects in Poland

Author:
Marcin Czugan, Michał Karwasiński, Jarosław Mizera, and Ewa Balcerowicz
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
Crowdfunding for business ventures, commonly referred to interchangeably as investment crowdfunding or equity crowdfunding, is a young practice. It first appeared in the USA (in 2009), and is now a rapidly expanding market in developed economies. The first case of investment crowdfunding in Poland, historically the first issuance, took place in 2012, barely three years later than in the United States. Such crowdfunding is a form of raising capital from the market (from investors) for the development of companies by entrepreneurs or owners, acting as the issuers. Specialised companies (fintechs) creating so-called crowdfunding platforms for matching demand with supply – and where offerings are announced and transactions carried out – are the market’s intermediaries. The report we are releasing discusses the specifics of investment crowdfunding, or in other words how this form of raising funds differs from older forms of external financing for businesses. It also presents the potential and the role of crowdfunding for the development of the capital market in Poland, describing demand for this type of financing, the level of interest among investors, and what both demand and interest depend on. In November 2021, European regulations were introduced specifically for this new market. Our authors analyse how these regulations will affect the future of equity crowdfunding in Poland. This issue of mBank-CASE Seminar Proceedings, on crowdfunding in Poland, follows on from a seminar held in March 2022. Three guests at the seminar were experts participating directly in the development of this new component of Poland’s capital market, therefore possessing unique knowledge of the specifics of crowdfunding, and its strengths and limitations.
Topic:
Finance, Innovation, Economic Development, Private Sector, Knowledge Economy, and Crowdfunding
Political Geography:
Europe and Poland

82. Same End By Different Means: Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta’s Strategies to Organize Their Frontier AI Innovation Systems

Author:
Cecilia Rikap
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
City Political Economy Research Centre (CITYPERC), University of London
Abstract:
I combine quantitative methodologies and in-depth interviews to analyse United States Big Tech different strategies to organize and profit from their AI corporate innovation systems (CIS). I propose 1) “frenemies” for Microsoft, because even Chinese organizations and direct competitors integrate its CIS. 2) “University” for Google, whose AI strategy included leaving DeepMind autonomous to explore more fundamental AI but appropriation mechanisms are not translating into a clear business advantage. 3) “Secrecy” for Amazon, given its large concern with secrecty and profiting from AI. 4) And “application-centred” for Facebook; its AI CIS is the narrowest, mostly attached to its platforms.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Innovation, Artificial Intelligence, Big Tech, and Corporations
Political Geography:
Global Focus

83. New biotechnologies, allies for food safety in the face of climate change. Where does Europe stand?

Author:
Agnès Ricroch
Publication Date:
09-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Robert Schuman Foundation (RSF)
Abstract:
The food market is currently marked by soaring prices and shortages due to supply shocks in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, but also to repeated extreme weather events linked to climate change; and finally, to geopolitical conflicts, in particular Russia's invasion of Ukraine. All innovations must be used to ensure food security, particularly for the European Union.
Topic:
Climate Change, Markets, European Union, Food Security, Innovation, and Biotechnology
Political Geography:
Europe

84. Displaced Ukrainians in European Labor Markets: Leveraging Innovations for More Inclusive Integration

Author:
Maria Vincenza Desiderio and Kate Hooper
Publication Date:
05-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
The war in Ukraine has led millions of displaced Ukrainians to seek protection in European countries since February 2022, and welcoming new arrivals has put enormous pressure on reception and integration systems. But with the right supports, displaced Ukrainians could also potentially help address some of Europe’s pervasive skill shortages. Many newcomers have a tertiary education, and the EU decision to activate the Temporary Protection Directive has provided swift access to clear residence and work rights. Early evidence suggests that displaced Ukrainians’ labor market entry is progressing well, with many working-age adults finding jobs. However, challenges such as language barriers, difficulties getting foreign credentials recognized, and trouble securing child care have limited some Ukrainians’ ability to enter the labor market and find a job commensurate with their skills. A desire among many to return to Ukraine, as circumstances allow, is also shaping their decisions about finding work and participating in integration and training programs. This report explores how displaced Ukrainians are faring in European labor markets, including what is known about their early labor market outcomes and the barriers they face when seeking work. It also examines how governments can work together with civil society and employers to help new arrivals find quality jobs and, in doing so, help European societies benefit from their skills.
Topic:
Education, Employment, Refugees, Innovation, Integration, Labor Market, and Immigration Policy
Political Geography:
Europe and Ukraine

85. Digitalization of Payments and Currency

Author:
Robert Fay, Keldon Bester, David Dodge, Serge Dupont, Mark Jewett, John Murray, and Laurie Wright
Publication Date:
06-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:
As a growing number of countries adopt digital payments and currencies, the Centre for International Governance Innovation and Bennett Jones LLP hosted a virtual workshop on March 7, 2023, to discuss the implications for Canada. Building on their previous work in related fields, participants including Canadian and international experts from the public and private sectors as well as from academia explored four topics: payments system modernization, open banking, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies. Creating a trustworthy digital financial system in which Canadians can conduct personal and business transactions in a reliable way is key to Canada’s successful adoption of digital payments and currencies.
Topic:
Governance, Central Bank, Currency, Innovation, Conference, Digitalization, and Digital Currency
Political Geography:
Global Focus

86. Responsible Innovation in Disruptive Digital and Data Technologies

Author:
Paul Samson, Constance de Leusse, Paul Fehlinger, and Aaron Shull
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:
As the world grapples with rapid technological change that has the capacity to affect every aspect of human life, “responsible innovation” is key to ensuring that this transformation is shaped in a way that benefits society as a whole while minimizing risks. A joint effort by the Centre for International Governance Innovation and Project Liberty, this policy brief explores seven “verticals” that will guide this technological evolution (artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, neurotechnology, Web3, digital public infrastructure, extended reality and biocomputing) and four “horizontals” (macroeconomics, geopolitics, climate change and regulation) that will shape the medium-term impact of these verticals. Using responsible innovation in the development and application of these technologies can help mitigate their disruptive potential. This approach involves looking at how to reduce the possible negative consequences of an innovation while maximizing its benefits for everyone, and focusing attention on innovation aimed at our greatest shared challenges.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Innovation, Data, and Emerging Technology
Political Geography:
Global Focus

87. How Saudi Arabia Bent China to Its Technoscientific Ambitions

Author:
Mohammed Al-Sudairi, Steven Jiawei Hai, and Kameal Alahmad
Publication Date:
08-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
Technoscientific cooperation between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Arab states has blossomed in recent years.1 The phrase itself has become an official “watchword” (tifa) in the context of Sino-Arab relations, suffusing nearly every official policy paper or statement on the Arab world from Beijing, including its Arab Policy Paper (2016), the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum Action Plan (2020), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Report on Sino-Arab Cooperation in the New Era (2022).2 Yet this newly hailed “breakthrough” (tupo) has attracted both scrutiny and concern from Western officials and academics worried about their states’ influence in the Middle East and, perhaps more pertinently, the outcome of their perceived ongoing global competition with China. The anti-Huawei campaign waged across the Gulf states by American officials during the end of Donald Trump’s presidency and the beginning of Joe Biden’s was animated by questions shaped by these anxieties: Will access to, and adoption of, Chinese technologies lead to the diffusion of new distinctively “Chinese” norms and standards (such as Chinese conceptions of cyber sovereignty) or barriers to unfettered Western market access over the long run? Will these same technologies compromise national digital ecosystems and infrastructures, thereby allowing the PRC to access sensitive information surrounding Western technologies and military deployments in the region while imposing its own distinctively Chinese vision on the region? And to what extent will these processes of technoscientific borrowing embolden authoritarianism and potentially take these states out of a Western security orbit?3 Such questions are neither new nor limited to the Middle East. The PRC’s complicated entanglements in Africa over the past few decades have produced similar-sounding concerns from the West surrounding a range of issues including Chinese “debt trap diplomacy” and resource exploitation, to which scholars such as Deborah Brautigam, Ching Kwan Lee, and Lina Benabdallah have provided nuanced counternarratives.4 Inspired by these works’ emphasis on local factors that China adapts to rather than the “Chinese ways” that Beijing and its proxies ostensibly impose, and also seeking to address some of the (primarily) Western apprehensions on Sino-Arab technoscientific cooperation, this paper focuses on a single regional actor—the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a major comprehensive strategic partner (quanmian zhanlüe huoban) of the PRC.5 The paper is anchored by the contention that technoscientific development in Saudi Arabia reflects, above all, the objectives and strategies of the Saudi state in its pursuit of technoscientific self-strengthening. In approaching this topic from a local perspective, this analysis seeks to upend conventional narratives that view these transformations mainly through the prism of China’s rise, or that of the U.S.-China rivalry. There are dreamers and planners beyond those in the Beltway and Zhongnanhai, such as those in al-Yamamah Palace, and their ambitions must be taken into account in understanding the nature, scope, intensity, velocity, and specifics of their collaborations with China. The paper is divided into three sections. The first discusses the evolution of Saudi Arabia’s approach to technoscientific development. It serves to shed light on the underlying logic guiding the kingdom’s global search for technoscientific partnerships. The second focuses on Chinese-Saudi technoscientific cooperation and localization projects, providing a general overview of the history of such cooperation followed by a discussion of some of its structural trends and impediments in terms of human resources, the circulation of capital, and the role of the state versus the private sector. The third and final section dwells on some of the key takeaways and contextualizing lessons based on the previous sections’ findings.
Topic:
Development, International Cooperation, Science and Technology, Innovation, and Strategic Engagement
Political Geography:
China, Middle East, Asia, and Saudi Arabia

88. Green innovation and the transition toward a clean economy

Author:
Daron Acemoglu, Philippe Aghion, Lint Barrage, and David Hémous
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
To combat climate change without sacrificing long-term economic growth, innovation must be redirected toward green technologies. The authors review recent literature that has developed a directed technical change framework where innovation can be endogenously targeted either toward fossil-fuel enhancing technologies or clean energy sources (such as renewables). They provide empirical evidence of path dependence in firms’ choice between green and dirty innovation. They then draw implications of this path dependence for the design of environmental policy and for economic growth. In particular, they show that their framework has distinctive implications regarding unilateral environmental policies, international cooperation, the use of intermediate energy sources such as natural gas, and the role of civil society.
Topic:
Climate Change, Science and Technology, Innovation, Energy, Green Transition, and Green Economy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

89. Merger Policy, Competition and Innovation Leadership: Implications for the UK’s Investment Attractiveness

Author:
Matthias Bauer, Oscar du Roy, and Vanika Sharma
Publication Date:
10-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE)
Abstract:
The UK’s competition regulator has adopted hard-sitting views in its assessment of transnational mergers and acquisitions. Since 2019, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has blocked a historic 59% of all mergers that were under investigation, which is double compared to the previous five years. With increased competence to set conduct requirements for large technology companies, aggressive enforcement by the CMA risks undermining Britain’s ambitions to become a leader in global trade, technology, and innovation.[1] Acquisitions in the technology sector have increasingly been scrutinised by competition authorities over the past decade, often based on the hypothesis that transactions involving large multinational companies tend to be anti-competitive. Authorities’ concerns are based on theories about post-acquisition market structures and the impacts of “killer acquisitions”. While their theories lack empirical justification, competition authorities have increasingly quoted them to assess cases through an ideological lens. Indeed, investigations into acquisitions show that competition authorities can come to markedly distinct conclusions when assessing the impacts on competition over time, especially in technology-intensive industries. The premise that acquisitions of small rivals by large tech companies inherently result in decreased competition lacks solid empirical evidence. Competition authorities often fail to adequately consider efficiency criteria and the resultant benefits for consumers. The proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a video game maker, by Microsoft is a case in point. The UK CMA had initially found that the acquisition would reduce competition in gaming markets. EU and US competition regulators, by contrast, have cleared the transaction, highlighting the uncertain nature of merger review results for international transactions. Large multinational technology companies are major sources of innovation and productivity growth. The services they provide are increasingly pervasive across developed market economies, promising large productivity gains. Small, medium, and young companies in high-tech sectors are also important sources of innovation and productivity growth and, therefore, major targets for investment. Ideologically charged competition enforcement would have a negative impact on the UK’s investment attractiveness. The prospect of an innovative and commercially successful company being taken over by another company is an important precondition for investors to make early-stage and continued seed capital investments. Acquisitions also play an important role in driving investments in business growth and internationalisation. By contrast, there is no hard evidence to support the presumption that acquisitions by major tech companies result in decreased competition. A continuation of aggressive merger enforcement by the UK CMA would undermine investments in innovation-driven UK businesses and reduce access to funding for British venture capital-backed start-ups.
Topic:
Digital Economy, Leadership, Investment, Innovation, and Economic Competition
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

90. Adverse Selection Among Early Adopters and Unraveling Innovation

Author:
Rory McGee
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP), Western University
Abstract:
I provide an equilibrium analysis of “selection markets”: where consumers not only vary in how much they are willing to pay, but also in how much they cost to the seller. The model provides a joint explanation for three empirical phenomena: low uptake of existing products, slow demand for new products, and market inactivity despite unmet demand. I characterize when early adopters are more adversely selected in new markets. This lowers demand, increases costs, and leads markets to unravel prematurely. With endogenous market entry for new products (e.g., reverse mortgages, annuities), extended patents serve as de facto time-varying subsidies.
Topic:
Economics, Markets, and Innovation
Political Geography:
Global Focus