Topic: public investment

Research and management of biological invasions involve value judgments as well as empirical findings. This seminar examines where those values enter scientific concepts, management questions and decisions about public investment. It considers how researchers and practitioners can make those commitments explicit, justify their choices and discuss invasive-species policy transparently.

Mariana Mazzucato, William Janeway and Sidney Winter discuss the role of government in innovation, from basic research through commercialisation. Mazzucato challenges the view that the public sector should simply withdraw and allow private enterprise to innovate, arguing that public institutions have often taken risks that businesses were unwilling to bear. The panel examines public investment across the innovation process and the consequences of shrinking the budgets of agencies involved in technological development. It asks whether governments should actively help create markets as well as