Ms. Bronwyn H. Hall, Emerita Professor at the Berkeley, visited Kyiv

On April, 7 Ms. Bronwyn H. Hall, Emerita Professor at the Berkeley, California gave a lecture in Kyyiv, prepared particularly for Ukraine, “Policy for Innovation: insights from economic research” organized by Kyivstar Business Hub in partnership with Kyiv School of Economics.

Key points of Ms.Bronwyn speech:

• People are driven to invent. It`s not an economic phenomenon. However, you need money and market to invent.
• Research often focuses on R&D ‘cause it can be measured easily. But it’s not necessarily a measure of innovation.
• Uncertainty and risk is always a problem when you invest in something new.
• R&D tax credits as an instrument of reduction innovation cost may not be very effective if firms don’t feel competitive pressure to innovate.
• Effective venture capital demands thick financial market. Even in USA VC is a small share in investment capital.
• People are extremely important for innovation. It’s a real Ukrainian strength.
• People as a capital need good education system and immigration policies.
• Market structure affects innovation. Monopoly has no incentive to innovate. Perfect competition leaves no profit for investing innovation.
• Market size is a demand for innovation. It’s a benefit for large economies such as USA or China.
• Probability of innovation increases with firm size.
• Many firms innovate without doing R&D, especially in services.