Due to a research semester by Prof. Dr. Werner Bönte, the courses offered by the chair are limited.

The module MWiWi 2.6 Economics of Innovation is offered, but unfortunately, due to capacity reasons, the courses in this module can only take place in person to a limited extent.

We offer a Q&A session (reverse classroom) as well as a weekly exercise:

Tuesday, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. as well as 2 p.m. - 4 p.m., room M.12.25

Start: April 21, 2026

Lecturer: Markus Thomanek

In addition, numerous screencasts will be made available in the Moodle course.

All information about the exercise and the Q&A session will be available in the Moodle course: https://moodle.uni-wuppertal.de/course/view.php?id=53910.

Course description

(a) Introduction to Economics of Innovation 
(b) Advanced Economics of Innovation 
(c) Übung zu Economics of Innovation 

It is widely accepted that innovation is an essential component of strategy for knowledge-based firms and that it is one of the main drivers of economic growth in industrial countries. Hence, a better understanding of the antecedents and consequences of innovation in the public and the private sector is needed to develop sound innovation policy measures and to derive implications for business strategies.    
The course “Economics of Innovation” is based on two lectures. The aim of the first lecture “Introduction to Economics of Innovation” is to introduce students to the economic analysis of innovation processes.  It deals with market failures in the innovation process, innovation incentives of firms in different markets, the effects of innovations on market structure, and intellectual property. The second lecture “Advanced Economics of Innovation” focuses on analyzing specific aspects of the innovation processes.

 
Learning goals

Upon completion of this course, students should have developed the capacity to comprehend and critically assess current theoretical and empirical research in the field of economics of innovation.

Additional information

Couse language: The language of instruction (lectures, exercises) is English. This also applies to the teaching materials and the literature accompanying the lectures and tutorials. 
Prerequisites/ requirements: Basic knowledge of microeconomics.