science

Political Economy of Research and Innovation

Political Economy of Research and Innovation is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Political Economy of Research and Innovation rather than just read about it. In short: The Political Economy of Research and Innovation (PERI) (or sometimes political economy of technoscience) is an emerging academic field at the interface of science and technology studies and political economy. It focuses on the production, distribution, and consumption of knowledge, and how these shape and are shaped by different political economies.

Key takeaways

Political Economy of Research and Innovation belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Political Economy of Research and Innovation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Political Economy of Research and Innovation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Political Economy of Research and Innovation (PERI) (or sometimes political economy of technoscience) is an emerging academic field at the interface of science and technology studies and political economy. It focuses on the production, distribution, and consumption of knowledge, and how these shape and are shaped by different political economies. Most scholars in this field have so-far focused on the two-way relationship between science, technology, and innovation and political economic processes, practices, and logics. It has its origins in the critique of neoclassical or orthodox economics of science by scholars like Philip Mirowski, the 'economic turn' in science and technology studies (see social studies of finance and valuation studies), and innovation studies or science policy. Examples of the field include:

An annual Changing Political Economy of Research and Innovation (CPERI) workshop which has been held in Lancaster (UK 2012), Toronto (Canada 2013), San Diego (USA 2015), Liege (Belgium 2016), Boston (USA 2017), and Lancaster (UK 2018). Programmatic handbooks like The Routledge Handbook of the Political Economy of Science (2017, edited by David Tyfield, Rebecca Lave, Samuel Randalls, and Charles Thorpe) and Critical Studies of Innovation (2017, edited by Benoît Godin and Dominique Vinck) published by Edward Elgar. Special issues of academic journals. Graduate courses in science and technology studies programs.[1] [1]

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Political Economy of Research and Innovation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Political Economy of Research and Innovation claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Political Economy of Research and Innovation before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Political Economy of Research and Innovation ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Political Economy of Research and Innovation

In research: Political Economy of Research and Innovation appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Political Economy of Research and Innovation in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Political Economy of Research and Innovation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Political economy, Science and technology studies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Political Economy of Research and Innovation outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Political Economy of Research and Innovation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Political Economy of Research and Innovation means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Political Economy of Research and Innovation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Political Economy of Research and Innovation in simple terms?

Why does Political Economy of Research and Innovation matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Political Economy of Research and Innovation?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Political Economy of Research and Innovation.