SOCIOLOGY OF NETWORKS AND DIGITAL ECONOMYModule DIGITAL ECONOMY AND INNOVATION
Academic Year 2022/2023 - Teacher: DAVIDE LUCA ARCIDIACONOExpected Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and understanding of the non-economic factors of innovation
Knowledge and understanding of trends in the digital transition
Acquisition of the technical language that characterizes the fields of research and development and the digital economy
Critical capacity on the ambivalence and impact of technical innovation
Development of creativity and ability to propose with respect to concrete problems that require innovative solutions
Course Structure
The program will be developed through lectures, class discussion of newspaper articles, scientific analyzes and other multimedia materials. In addition, entrepreneurs or actors from the innovation ecosystem will be invited to the class who will lend their testimony. Finally, short individual and group project works will be carried out to develop technical and operational skills consistent with the objectives of the course
Required Prerequisites
The course is open to all students, with no particular pre-requisites required. However, it may be useful to have already taken a course in economic sociology.
Attendance of Lessons
Although attendance is not compulsory, attendance is highly recommended because it is an interactive course with discussion activities. and confrontation in the classroom that play an essential role in learning, also because there are moments of in-depth study through simulations, case history analyzes and testimonies from the business world and the local innovation ecosystem.
Detailed Course Content
The program is divided into four parts:
1) Innovation studies - comparative studies and research: in this first part the students will deepen the theme of innovation as an interdisciplinary field of study albeit with particular reference to the studies and contributions of classical sociology up to the recent construction of the concept of social innovation.
2) Inventors and Innovators: the distinction between the two figures will be analyzed, highlighting differences and interrelationships through case studies and examples.
3) Innovation and policies: the theme of innovation will be related to that of policies and emphasis will be placed on the relevance of institutional contexts for innovation starting from the contribution of comparative political economy and the relevance of the so-called triple helix.
4) The forms of innovation in the digital economy: different forms of innovation in the digital economy will be examined - from industry 4.0, to the phenomenon of start-ups and the platform economy, from social innovation to fab labs and crowdfunding.
Textbook Information
- Ramella F., Sociologia dell’innovazione Economica, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2013, pp. 7-182.
- Barbera F. L’innovazione sociale: aspetti concettuali, problematiche metodologiche e implicazioni per l’agenda della ricerca, in Polis 1, 2020
- Tiraboschi Seghezzi, Il Piano nazionale Industria 4.0: una lettura lavoristicavol. Labour and Law Issues, no. 2, 2016
- Arcidiacono D., Gli ambigui sentieri del platform work, in Fondazione Feltrinelli Quaderni, n. 25/2018, p. 79-103
- Luise V., La molteplicità dell’economia Start Up, in Buffardi A., Savonardo L., Culture digitali, innovazione e startup: Il modello Contamination Lab, Egea, Milano, 2019, pp.55-72.
- Pais I., Peretti P., Spinelli C., Crowdfunding. La via collaborativa all’imprenditorialità, Egea, Milano, 2014, pp. 5-28.
- Manzo C., Ramella F., I nuovi artigiani digitali, in Il MULINO 2/2016, pp. 268-275.
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
The exam is an oral examination in the official exam dates set out in the calendar. However, for those attending, individual and group project activities may be provided to verify learning and develop useful skills on the topics of the course.
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
What is innovation?
What are the different types of innovation?
How has the innovation process evolved from the first industrialization to the present day?
How has the profile of inventors / innovators changed?
What does Ogburn's theory of cultural retardation say?
What is a creative class according to Florida?
What are national or local innovation regimes?
Why are networks important when we talk about innovation?
What are small world networks and why are they so crucial in innovation processes?
What is a start up?
How is a start-up born and evolving?
What is the Industry 4.0 Plan?
What is a platform model?
What are the implications of the platformization of work?
What is crowdfunding? What are the different types of crowdfunding?
What is social innovation? What are the criticisms that have been addressed to this concept ?.