FINNOV in the Media / FINNOV: Finance, Innovation & Growth

FINNOV in the Media

Fixing the economy by rewarding long-term investment in innovation

Posted on 09 May 2014

The world's economy has yet to fully recover from the global financial crisis, now a half-decade since it began. Economists are not finished debating its causes and solutions, and they likely will continue for years to come.

Challenging times call for challenging ideas and solutions. The EU-funded research project FINNOV attributes part of the crisis' cause to an economic value system that rewarded short-term gain over sustainable growth. Accordingly, this deprived the economy of important investments in innovation, green technologies and other new-economy industries envisioned to drive growth into the 21st century.

Read the full FINNOV Success Story on the European Commission website

Investing In Innovation

Posted on 21 February 2012

Public and private sector investment strategies are failing many SMEs, but a rethink of policy could provide the boost emerging areas such as green technology crave, according to Mariana Mazzucato, director of the European Commission’s FINNOV project.

Mazzucato, who is also RM Phillips chair in science and technology policy at the University of Sussex, is one of the key coordinators of FINNOV, which is aimed at understanding the relationship between financial markets and investment in innovation.

Read the full article

Science's Own Financial Crisis

Posted on 21 February 2012

In his article posted in the Financial Times website on the 17 February 2012, Clive Cookson from the Financial Times talks about how Prof Mariana Mazzucato and the research project FINNOV analysed the extent to which the financial system promotes or impedes growth in a range of high-tech and science-based sectors. He writes:

'The three-year Finnov project (its name stands for finance innovation) analysed the extent to which the financial system promotes or impedes growth in a range of high-tech and science-based sectors. The results reveal a “dysfunctional” system, which has become worse during the current crisis.

Fixing Financial System

Posted on 05 February 2012

In her article "The unknighting of Fred Goodwin can only be redeemed by genuine reform" published in The Independent (5 February 2012), Margareta Pagano refers to the findings of the FINNOV project. She writes:

"…After a three-year study into the causes of and lessons of the financial crash, Mazzucato and her team published the final Finnov report last week. In it, she puts reforming the performance indicators used by financial markets right at the top of her list for reform. She claims that changing the links between risks and rewards led to the extraordinary financialisation of the economy, meaning that the financial-services sector took out value at the expense of industrial growth. It's this practice that has undermined investment in productive activity, and destabilised the economy."

Ban on Share Buybacks

Posted on 03 February 2012

in his article published in The Financial News (3 February 2012), Richard Partington refers to the research results by the FINNOV scientific team, who are calling for an outright ban on corporate stock buybacks. Partington writes:

"…FINNOV, a research collaboration between seven European academic institutions including the UK's University of Cambridge, said share buybacks should be subject to stronger governance control or banned outright.

Back Job Creators

Posted on 03 February 2012

In his article "Back job creators, government urged" published in the Financial Times (3 February 2012), Jonathan Moules refers to the FINNOV findings on the blanket support for businesses. Moules writes:

"Influential reports have called on the government to rethink its business support by targeting small firms that are most likely to generate new jobs.

FINNOV study provides food-for-thought on innovation policy

Posted on 02 February 2012

In his article posted in the Touch Stone Economics blog on the 2 February 2012, Tim Page, Senior Policy Officer at the TUC, praises the research work done by FINNOV and how its outputs reached all policy makers from all parties. He writes:

"I spent yesterday afternoon and evening, and this morning, at the fascinating conference, ‘Financing Innovation and Growth: Reforming a Dysfunctional System’, first at the House of Commons and then at the Italian Cultural Institute in London. The Science Minister, David Willetts, and his Labour Shadow, Chi Onwurah, both spoke at the event. What is most important is that policy makers from all parties, as well as Treasury Ministers, learn some lessons from the FINNOV study."

Read the full article

Damaging Financial Practices

Posted on 02 February 2012

Professor Mariana Mazzucato was invited to BBC Radio 4 Today Programme / Business News (2 February 2012) to talk about FINNOV findings into the UK's financial sector, which concluded that growth prospects are being damaged by many common financial practices within companies and markets.

Rising Income Inequality

Posted on 01 February 2012

In their article "Explaining Rising Income Inequality" published in The New Statesman (1 February 2012), Professor Mariana Mazzucato and Professor Bill Lazonick discuss the inequality of income in the major Western capitalist economies.

EU Leaders' Summit

Posted on 31 January 2012

31 January 2012 - Professor Mariana Mazzucato was invited to talk about European Union leaders' summit (30 January 2012) and the outlook for growth in the region. She was interviewed by Linzie Janis and Owen Thomas on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown."