The Penrose Lectures 2022

This year, Professor Mariana Mazzucato (UCL) will deliver two lectures

Rethinking the State

• Lecture 1: Public VALUE: From fixing market failures to market shaping and creating (6.15 pm GMT, 28th November 2022)

• Lecture 2: Public PURPOSE: from austerity and helicopter money to mission-orientation (6.15 pm GMT, 29th November 2022)

About the speaker

Mariana Mazzucato (PhD) 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 received her BA from Tufts University and her MA and PhD from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research. Her previous posts include the RM Phillips Professorial Chair at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at Sussex University. She is a selected fellow of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and of the Italian National Science Academy (Lincei).  

She is winner of international prizes including the Grande Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 2021, Italy's highest civilian honour, 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 is the author of three highly-acclaimed books: The Entrepreneurial State: debunking public vs. private sector myths (2013) which investigates the critical role the state plays in driving growth; The Value of Everything: making and taking in the global. economy (2018) which looks at how value creation needs to be rewarded over value extraction; and the newly released Mission Economy: a moonshot guide to changing capitalism (2021). 

She advises policy makers 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.  

Organiser 

The Penrose Lectures Committee, SOAS University of London

About the Penrose Lectures

The Penrose Lectures were established in memory of Professor Edith Penrose who made an outstanding contribution to social science.  Her work on innovation, international corporations, the theory of the firm, organisation and economic development have left a lasting legacy on the disciplines of economics and management.  Penrose was also an inspirational teacher of students at all levels – undergraduate, postgraduate, PhD, MBA - and a major contributor to important public policy issues and debates. In keeping with her legacy, the Penrose Lectures have been established to honour her contribution.  The lectures are held each year on a subject in economics, management or political economy.

Edith Penrose was appointed to a Chair in Economics at SOAS in 1964 having previously held a joint Readership in Economics at LSE and SOAS.  After retiring from SOAS in 1978 she was appointed Professor of Political Economy at INSEAD, Paris.  As well as being a pioneer in the disciplines of economics and management, Penrose was also the first woman to hold a professorial position in economics at SOAS.  In recognition of her work and legacy, the Penrose Lectures provide a platform for outstanding scholars to communicate their research work to faculty, students, practitioners and the wider public.

Oxford University Press has recently published a biography of Edith Penrose: Penrose, A (2017) No Ordinary Woman: The Life of Edith Penrose, Oxford University Press, Oxford.