The lecture by Torsten Heinrich from University of Oxford will take place at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna in the Salon.
If you are interested in participating, please email to office@csh.ac.at
Abstract
Technological change and industrial organization are connected on many levels: Where do new technologies emerge?, how do they diffuse in the industry and among consumers?, what impact does this have on the characteristics of the cross-sectional distribution of firms? Technologies do not evolve isolated: They rely on other technologies, on infrastructure, and on specialized knowledge. This causes network externalities and links the future success of technologies to the number of previous users of not only these technologies, but also of the pre-existing infrastructure and related technologies. Observing the emergence and diffusion of technologies is crucial for our understanding of both the role and potential of technological change and our capacity to incentivize the emergence of green technologies, encourage prudent practices in finance and insurance, and address problems such as climate change. Some results from agent-based modeling and replicator dynamics are presented and substantiated by empirical results from patenting in green technologies, as well as industrial dynamics in the insurance business and other sectors.