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The role of public research in the development of COVID vaccines: heroes or laggards?

When:
Venue: Online

No booking required

This event will be co-hosted by Birkbeck, University of London and Essex Business School, University of Essex.

Universities, public sector labs and private firms in the pharmaceutical industry worked tirelessly to discover a vaccine to combat COVID-19 within less than a year.

Professors Daniele Archibugi (Birkbeck, University of London) and Suma Athreye (University of Essex) will outline slightly different views about the role of public research in this discovery, which we want to use as a starting point for scholarly debate on the extent to which vaccine development can serve as a template for future innovation policy. 

Key areas that we will explore are:

  • Was the contribution of public sector research bodies greater when compared to their private sector counterparts?
  • Is the COVID-19 vaccine an exemplar of mission oriented innovation policy?
  • Were the rewards of success distributed fairly and will it influence the future transfer of knowledge from the public science base for other global challenges?
  • Where are the areas of policy innovation?

This is not an exhaustive list and we look forward to insights from the audience.

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