Valuable Conversations with UCL IIPP

In this episode of 'Valuable Conversations', MPA Alumni Justin Beirold and Coralie Gervaise from UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose discuss the importance of imagination in the public sphere with ‘renegade scientist’, Phoebe Tickell. Tickell, who has a background in microbiology, talks about her journey into systems thinking and her fascination with how science, governance, and economic systems impact our worldviews. Through her organization, Moral Imaginations, Phoebe aims at introducing imagination and the concept of 'imagination activism' into policy-making, ambitioning to transform societal perceptions and behaviors. She explores the concept of imagination as a transformative tool, noting its impact on the Camden Council's approach to policy-making. She further delves into the importance of integrating future generations and non-human actors in public policy and highlights the importance of art, theater, and creativity in this process. In conclusion, they discuss the fundamental role of imagination in times of scarce resources and the challenge it poses for changing societal behaviors.

Learn more about Phoebe:

Welcome to Valuable Conversations with the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. In this episode, MPA Alumni Justin Beirold and André Ribeiro Coutinho talk to Venkat Ramaswamy, Professor of Marketing at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. Venkat is a globally recognized thought leader, idea practitioner, and eclectic scholar with wide-ranging interests in innovation, strategy, marketing, branding, IT, operations, and the human side of the organization. We were very excited to sit down with Venkat, who studies many topics that we are familiar with at IIPP - including public value, co-creation, and digital public infrastructure - but from the academic discipline of business and management rather than public administration.

Professor Ramaswamy provides insight into the evolution of the “India Stack”, its digital public goods, and the government's role as an entrepreneur. The conversation pivots to 'experience-first' digital transformations, focusing on the interplay of Web 3.0, NFTs and digital asset ownership. The surge of start-ups in India, alongside its digital asset expansion, aims for fairness and ease of participation in this digital reshaping. Ramaswamy underscores the need for an interdisciplinary approach to education, enabling future generations to understand intricate human and environmental interactions within the digital world. This dialogue provides an in-depth overview of co-creation, its impacts on sustainable development, digital asset growth, and the future of digital interactions in an increasingly interconnected world.

Learn more about Venkat:

Welcome to Valuable Conversations with the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. In this episode, MPA alumni Gwen Casazza and Justin Beirold talk to IIPP’s fearless leader, Mariana Mazzucato. Like many people at IIPP, Gwen and Justin came to the institute in large part because of Mariana and her ideas. Mariana is one of the most influential economists in the world, and as a result, there are hundreds of podcasts, YouTube videos, interviews, and lectures featuring her. We decided that we would get into the weeds about the substance of her research, but we also wanted to learn more about her as a person.

We talked about her childhood in an Italian family in New Jersey and being inspired by her High School history teacher. We discussed the trials and tribulations of the past decade, as she went from being a respected professor to running her own institute and becoming low-key famous (relative to most economists). She tells us about the critical importance of crafting new economic narratives in addition to new policy ideas. And of course, we covered some of the most exciting projects she is working on at the IIPP, including her work with Camden Council, the City of Barcelona, and the (all-women) WHO Council on Economics of Health For All.

Guest Bio:
Mariana Mazzucato is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP).  She is winner of international prizes including the 2020 John von Neumann Award, the 2019 All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values, and the 2018 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. She was named as one of the '3 most important thinkers about innovation' by The New Republic, one of the 50 most creative people in business in 2020 by Fast Company, and one of the 25 leaders shaping the future of capitalism by WIRED.

She advises policymakers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth. Her current roles include being Chair of the World Health Organization's Council on the Economics of Health for All and a member of the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisors, the South African President’s Economic Advisory Council, the OECD Secretary General’s Advisory Group on a New Growth Narrative, the UN High Level Advisory Board for Economic and Social Affairs, Argentina’s Economic and Social Council, Vinnova’s Advisory Panel in Sweden, and Norway’s Research Council. Previously, through her role as Special Advisor for the EC Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation (2017-2019), she authored the high-impact report on Mission-Oriented Research & Innovation in the European Union, turning “missions” into a crucial new instrument in the European Commission’s Horizon innovation programme.

We hope you enjoy this conversation!

Welcome to Valuable Conversations, a student-produced podcast from UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. Today, MPA alumni Justin Beirold and PhD student Nai Kalema sit down with George Aye – Co-Founder and Director of Innovation at Greater Good Studios. Greater Good Studios is a design consultancy in Chicago that advances people-centered social change. There is a reason why very few design studios focus exclusively on making the world a better place - it is because it’s really hard! And it’s even harder if you are willing to admit that many of the most reliable tools in the design toolbox either totally ignore or actually intensify issues of power and privilege. It is easy enough to talk about participatory design, community, and social justice, but to incorporate these lofty ideals into your day-to-day practice requires new methods, new metrics, and new ways of thinking that quickly lead you into uncharted territory. I highly recommend checking out some of George’s other talks online to learn more. In this conversation, we cover some of these questions and the personal side of how George got to where he is today.

We knew we wanted to interview George from the moment we heard him give a guest lecture in our MPA, and we really appreciate him taking the time to share his perspective with us.  So please enjoy our conversation with George Aye.

-Greater Good Studio: https://greatergoodstudio.com/

Welcome to Valuable Conversations with the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. Today’s guest is Rowan Conway, our instructor for the MPA module Transformation by Design. MPA alumni Níckolas Laport and Justin Beirold talk to Rowan about her circuitous journey to becoming a renowned expert in strategic design and public policy. We discuss her education and early career, and how she got involved with the London Olympics in 2012. We also talk about her work as Director of Innovation at the RSA, how she joined IIPP and became head of the Mission-Oriented Innovation Network(MOIN), and the challenges of participatory design. We hope you enjoy this conversation!

Guest Bio: Until very recently, Rowan was head of the Mission-Oriented Innovation Network MOIN at IIPP. MOIN brings together leading global policy-making institutions – including state investment banks, innovation agencies, cities and government departments to share the challenges and opportunities they face when trying to create and nurture public value.

As part of her work at the Institute, Rowan teaches strategic design and is module lead and course lecturer for the MPA module Transformation by Design. Prior to joining UCL, Rowan was Director of Innovation at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) where she set up the RSA Lab, an experimental space that uses design methods to explore, prototype and test research insights and policy ideas with government agencies, NGOs, academic partners, NHS Trusts, businesses and social enterprises. She designed and led a range of action research programmes on the future of work, deliberative democracy, tech and society, circular economy and systems innovation. Prior to that, she has 15 years experience leading a wide range of design and engagement processes, notably the community participation in the design process for London 2012 Olympic Park. She holds an MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice from the University of Bath and is a PhD Candidate at IIPP.

Welcome to Valuable Conversations with the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. Today’s guest is the legend herself, Dr. Carlota Perez. MPA alumni Teresa Miquel and Justin Beirold talk to Carlota about her life and work. We discuss her journey from architecture to economics (both heavily male-dominated fields), and how she began to formulate her theory of techno-economic paradigms. We also talk about how her theories apply to today’s world, with a particular emphasis on Latin America (where both Carlota and Tere are from). Carlota is 82 years young and sharp as a tack. It was an honor to record this conversation, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Guest Bio: Carlota Perez is a leading scholar on the socio-economic impact of technical change and the historical context of growth and development. She’s the author of the influential “Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages”, and she’s currently working on multiple projects which focus on the historical role of the state in shaping the context for innovation.

Carlota’s career has spanned civil service, academic research, teaching and consultancy. She is currently Honorary Professor at IIPP-UCL and at SPRU, University of Sussex; Professor of Technology and Development at TalTech, Estonia. an Academic-in-Residence at Anthemis. As a consultant she has worked for several Latin American governments and multilateral organisations, such as the UNCTAD, CEPAL, OECD and the World Bank; and for many global corporations, including IBM, Cisco, Telefonica and IKEA. She was recently chair of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Expert Group for Green Growth and Jobs and is now part of the EU-funded Beyond 4.0 project.

Welcome to Valuable Conversations with the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. Today’s guest is Wolfgang Drechsler. MPA students Maria-Nikol Stoykova and Justin Beirold talk to Wolfgang about his life and work. We discuss how he got into public policy, his interest in non-western public administration, and the complicated history of non-western PA in Nikol’s home country of Bulgaria. We also talk about Wolfgang’s recent advocacy on protests by civil servants in Myanmar, and his experience as an advisor to governments and leaders around the world. Wolfgang is an insightful and funny guest, and we hope you enjoy!

Guest Bio: Wolfgang is an Honorary Professor at UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Professor of Governance at the Department of Innovation and Governance at Tallinn University of Technology, as well as an Associate at Harvard University’s Davis Center.

Dr. Wolfgang Drechsler has been Ad­visor to the President of Estonia, Executive Secretary during the German Reunification, a Congressional Fellow as well as a Senior Legislative Analyst in the United States Congress. He serves or has served as an advisor, especially in the areas of public management reform and innovation policy as well as e-governance, for national governments and international organizations, such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Council of Europe, SIGMA, World Bank, European Union, Inter-American Development Bank, and United Nations Development Program; he has worked, in different capacities, on the national development plans of, e.g., Estonia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Peru, Brazil, and Norway.

His academic focus areas include Technology, Innovation & Governance; Non-Western paradigms of governance, especially Buddhist, Confucian, and Islamic (Southeast and East Asia); and Public Management Reform generally. He also has a strong background both in heterodox economic theory and in classical political philosophy. He is the author or editor of more than 20 books and journal issues and well over 100 scholarly articles.

Welcome to Valuable Conversations with the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. In our first episode, MPA students Elisa Cadelli and Justin Beirold talk to Professor Kate Roll. Kate is the instructor for the MPA module “Grand Challenges and Systems Change”. We talk about her adventures conducting PhD field research on a motorcycle in Timor-Leste, how she got interested in the politics of innovation, and some of her recent work on the gig economy.

Guest Bio: Dr Kate Roll is a political scientist who currently serves as an Assistant Professor in Innovation, Development and Purpose and Head of Teaching at UCL IIPP, and the Bartlett's Faculty Lead for Public Policy. Prior to joining IIPP, she was based at the University of Oxford, where she is a faculty member at the Saïd Business School, contributing to the strategy and innovation curriculum, and ran the Mutuality in Business Project, a large multi-year research partnership on responsible business.

Her multi-disciplinary work brings together politics and policy, business ethics, and development studies. One stream of research focuses on power and vulnerability with a particular interest on how people in poverty and following conflict gain greater social and economic security. Within this stream, she wrote her doctoral thesis on the politics of benefits programmes for former combatants in Timor-Leste. Dr Roll’s second research focus critically engages with private sector approaches to development, particularly ‘base of the pyramid’ route-to-market programmes. As part of this work, she co-leads a randomised control trial investigating the impact of greater risk-sharing in micro-finance contracts in Kenya. She is currently developing a new stream of research, which will extend her work on private sector approaches to development by critically examining the emergent field of social innovation and 'technology for good.’

We hope you enjoy this conversation!

- Read Kate’s recent article: “Gig work at the base of the pyramid: considering dependence and control”: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2020/jul/gig-work-base-pyramid-considering-dependence-and-control

Our student hosts: Elisa Cadelli and Justin Beirold