Innovation, Creativity, and Happiness in a Digital Age

As innovation ecosystems are facing new challenges, is the classic policy toolkit of top-notch universities, venture capital, risk-taking entrepreneurship, supportive institutions and light-touch state regulation still relevant today? Digital technologies and geopolitics are rapidly reshaping global trade and values chains, coined by different terms such as re-shoring, back-shoring, home-shoring, near-shoring, and quite recently, friend-shoring. New terms such as de-globalization, re-globalization, fragmentation or slowbalization have also emerged for the new economic and political order, while the media is full of noise about the global race for technological supremacy between the US and China and, to a lesser extent, the EU. In addition, the recent hype and panic around generative AI seemingly going hand in hand suggest the advent of a new general-purpose technology. With this in mind, the panel will discuss the role of innovation and creativity and their impact on economy and happiness.