Center's Firms and Industrial Policy Idea Lab Hosts Conference

The Firms & Industrial Policy Idea Lab of the Center for Political Economy hosted its fourth annual New Thinking in Industrial Policy Conference on Nov. 6. This year’s topic for the conference – put together in conjunction with the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, the Center for Development Economics and Policy and the Institute of Global Politics in Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs – was Perspectives from Developed and Developing Countries. Throughout the conference, attendees had the opportunity to hear from distinguished researchers in the realm of industrial policy and gain a grasp of current literature being drafted in the field.

The conference opened with keynote speaker Ana Margarida Fernandes, a lead economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank, who defined industrial policy as “government action to grow a strategic business activity.” Attendees then were able to hear from several other plenary speakers, such as Josh Lerner, the Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking at Harvard Business School, who presented his research findings in a presentation on The Indian Innovation Puzzle.

A particular highlight of the conference was the keynote Q&A with Jeanny Pak, the chief operating officer of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. She spoke on New York City’s new QFab Initiative spearheaded by New York University. The initiative focuses on expanding research and patents featuring quantum technology. 

Pak emphasized how having such a major quantum center in New York City will allow quantum tech to “be here, grow here” and for the city to “be the center of quantum.”

^{– Photographs by Lucas Hoeffel}

The conference concluded with a plenary session on ‘Industrial Policy Amidst Global Turbulence’ featuring Heather Boushey, a Professor of Practice at the Kleinman Center and former economic advisor to President Biden; Elisabeth Reynolds, Professor of the Practice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former special assistant to President Biden; as well as Nobel Laureate and esteemed Columbia University Professor, Joseph E. Stiglitz.

Other speakers from around the world presented on industrial policy research on developed and developing countries alike, ranging from Italy to Bangladesh:

• Eric Verhoogen (Columbia University)
• Zoe Xincheng Ge (Universidad Instituto de Empresa)
• Ina Simonovska (University of California, Davis)
• Alexandre Aubard (George Washington University/GTPO)
• Cedric Huylebroek (Deutsche Bundesbank and KU Leuven)
• Dawud Al Ansari (Shaheen Institute for Strategy and Development)
• Lovepreet Singh (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
• Zuhad Hai (New York University)
• Jeanny Pak (COO of NYC EDC)
• Yingyao Wang (University of Virginia)
• Ming-yen Ho (University of California. Berkeley Haas School of Business)
• Chiara Motta (UC Berkeley)
• Hale Utar (Grinnell College)
• Ebehi Iyoha (University of Split)
• D. Cale Reeves (University of Cambridge)
• Joao Paulo Pessoa (São Paulo School of Economics – FGV)
• Adrien Matray (Atlanta Fed)