TRUST Conference, 29-10-2015, European Commission, Brussels

1. 1
CEPS_thinktank
Thinking ahead for Europe
Research matching society
From visions to actions
TRUST Conference, 29-10-2015, European Commission, Brussels
www.ceps.eu
ILARIA MASELLI
Research Fellow CEPS

2. 2
What “kind” of knowledge
do we need to tackle future
human challenges?

3. 3
(1) A better understanding of
what drives innovation
• Europe cannot grow just by accumulation of
production factors
• Basics of growth: Perspiration VS Inspiration
• How to push forward the frontier?
• Skills? Democracy? R&D expenditure? Workplace
innovation?
• US vs. Japan and EU2020

4. 4
…under time pressure
41%
42%
43%
44%
45%
46%
47%
48%
49%
215
220
225
230
235
240
245
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
Labour Force in million Labour Force/Population
Source: The Global Economy in 2030 – CEPS 2013
Ageing,
product
ivity
&
wealth

5. 5
(2) The on-demand economy
“Uber, the world’s largest taxi
company, owns no vehicles.
Facebook, the world’s most
popular media owner, creates
no content. (…) And Airbnb,
the world’s largest
accommodation provider,
owns no real estate.
Something interesting is
happening.”
Tom Goodwin, 3 March 2015
36
69.4
33.4 35.1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Italy Serbia Spain Bulgaria
Average earnings per submission on
CoContest.com (€)
Source: Digital workers by design? – CEPS 2015

6. 6
(3) Divergence and growth in
Europe
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 t8 t9 t10 t11 t12 t13 t14 t15 t16 t17 t18 t19 t20 t21
SHAREOFGERMANY'SPERCAPITAGPD(PPS)
IT ES EL BG RO
Bulgaria: 2000 - 2016
Italy: 1960 - 1980 Spain: 1980 - 2000
Greece : 1980 - 2000
Romania: 2000 - 2016

7. 7
(4) Where policy transfer fails
• Implementation on the ground
• Quality of institutions
• Rule of law
• Corruption

8. 8
How research can have a
direct impact on
economics, politics and
society?

9. 9
p = 0.00001%

10. 10
What we (researchers)
are good at…

11. 11
What we (researchers)
are not good at… I
• Talking to a wider public
• Not strictly necessary
• Difficult to translate research into more accessible lingo
• Journalists are not easy to handle!

12. 12
What we (researchers)
are not good at… II
• Talking to policy-makers
• Short-term vs long-term
• Priorities not synchronized
…Yet effort needed: often huge distance between
scientific knowledge and policy proposals

13. 13
@IlariaInBxl
@CEPS_thinktank
Ilaria.Maselli@ceps.eu
www.ceps.eu
Thank you for the attention