Davide Consoli

My research is devoted to understanding the sources and the effects of innovation. In particular, I study how economic, organizational and institutional processes stimulate or thwart new ways of doing things. Grounded in the multidisciplinary area of innovation studies, my research explores processes of knowledge generation and diffusion; the dynamics of scientific networks; the evolution of consumer preferences; structural change in industries and sectors; the skill content of occupations; and the reconfiguration of employment structures in industries and geographical areas. This work encompasses various empirical domains.

My current work analyses how human capital is organized within industries and how its configuration differs across industries. I am interested in understanding the ways in which this heterogeneity affects productivity, innovation capacity and the evolution of industries. I am also keen to investigate the adjustments in education and training that are necessary to keep up with changing demand for skills. Empirical studies in this remit are on the US, Finland and Spain.

Another area of empirical inquiry in which I am quite active is the emergent green economy. Current work studies the nature of green skills, of green jobs and the structure of green employment. I am also interested in the effects of environmental policy on occupations, industries and geographical areas.

I am also interested in Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) sectors, their functional heterogeneity and the evolution of their knowledge bases. Published work in this area covers all KIBS as well as sector specific case studies such as Scientific R&D and Design.

My prior work focused on the nature and the dynamics of medical innovation, in particular: the pathways through which scientific know-how emerges; the nature of collaboration networks; the links between network structures and the generation of basic knowledge; the implications of changing organizational configurations for both basic research and for clinical practice; and the role of practical know-how in the face of persistent uncertainty about the nature of disease.

I prefer to take on just one new supervisory role per year, so that I can devote enough time and attention to either graduate students or to postdoctoral fellows. I am happy to supervise and mentor research on innovation in relation to any of the following themes:

• Skill formation, diffusion and transformation;
• Long-term analysis of labour markets;
• Geography of labour;
• Evolution of education and training systems;
• Changes in the nature and content of occupations;
• Inequality;
• Environmental Sustainability;
• Knowledge Intensive Service Activities;
• Dynamics of communities of practices and knowledge networks;

Having said that, I am open to provide supervision and mentoring on other topics, so you're welcome to contact me directly with an idea or a proposal!

[ Curriculum Vitae]

Groups

• Dynamics and policy of biomedical science and innovation
• Group of Research on Energy and Environmental innovation (GreeIN)

WWW

Full list of published articles and work in progress in RePEc and here