The workshop was originally launched in Turin, but is now also held at other major research locations such as the Centre for Research on Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Bath (2018) and the GREThA at the Université de Bordeaux-CNRS (2019).
Due to the current pandemic situation, the event, which was initially planned for the end of April, now took place very successfully in online format for the first time. The participants were welcomed by Michael E. Rose, Senior Research Fellow in the department Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research, and co-organizer Hanna Hottenrott, Professor of Economics of Innovation at the Technical University of Munich.
The 12 presentations in six sessions over two days were very well received by up to 70 participants. The afternoon sessions were particularly well attended, since, due to the time difference, researchers from the US were also able to zoom in. In addition to the presentations, virtual breakout rooms were hosted which allowed the researchers to make new contacts with other scientists for the first time in a long while.
The topics at a glance
The first session started by focusing on the question "How Scientists Search". The presenter showed how the search for antibodies can be biased by the ranking of search results. The second presentation discussed how novelty and impact of scientific articles in physics are related to team size.
The second session dealt with topics in the field of academic training. In Session 3, the first day of the workshop concluded with investigations on how scientists react to the sudden loss of research resources.
The second day opened with two presentations on questions of informal cooperation in economics. Session 5 focused on science funding: Both theoretical and empirical research findings on the optimal design of science funding programs were presented.
In the final workshop session, the presenters stressed, on the one hand, the importance of coherence and alignment with one’s previous research in order to obtain funding, as well as, on the other hand, that humor and curiosity are more important as drivers of path-breaking science than research awards.
See the complete program with all topics here.
More information on the workshop website and further impressions on Twitter under #woepsr2020.
We thank all organizing parties involved as well as all participants, speakers and discussants for a truly exceptional and inspiring workshop and look forward to WOEPSR 2021. The Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition will host the workshop again within the next two years and hopes to welcome the participants on site then.