CALL FOR PAPERS The Changing Political Economy of Research & Innovation: Public Policy, Commercialization & Neoliberal Technoscience

Neoliberal globalization is in crisis with significant backlash against ‘free markets’ and a groundswell of political opinion calling for ‘responsible capitalism’. These trends profoundly challenge the IP-intensive, neoliberal global model of science-based innovation that has dominated in recent years. Yet, notwithstanding these trends in the broader political economy, the neoliberalization of science in the global North is proceeding at an undiminished, if not accelerated, pace. The changing relations of scientific research, innovation and political economy are thus a key site for the investigation of the future of technoscience in terms of its contribution to socio-economic development and the public accountability of scientists and policymakers.

These issues form the basis for a two-day workshop to be held at York University, Toronto, which will seek to address four broad questions:

• Why do simple scientific and innovation narratives have such political and policy power?
• How do public policies, projects and innovation promote particular, neoliberal forms of technoscience?
• What are the ways we can re-conceptualize global problems in order to challenge and go beyond solutions based on neoliberal technoscience?
• How might technoscience be democratized and de-commodified so that it better serves collective or public interests?

If you have other ideas for papers relevant to the workshop then please do get in touch.

The keynote speakers include:

- Professor Philip Mirowski, author ofScienceMartTM.

- Dr Erik Conway(tbc), co-author of Merchants of Doubt.

- Professor Alison Hearn, author of numerous articles on immaterial labour and value.

December 9-10^th 2013 | York University, Toronto

Deadline: 31^st July 2013

Please send abstracts (max. 250 words) to the organizers: Kean Birch (kean@yorku.ca) and David Tyfield (d.tyfield@lancaster.ac.uk).

For more information see the online CfP available at http://bit.ly/15o2Ikk