Innovation and institutions are social expressions of two almost opposite processes: one brings change, whereas the others preserve the current state. And yet they are interdependently linked. Institutions provide endurance in legitimate ways of practicing social life and so reduce cost and uncertainty in economic interactions. Innovation refers to the introduction of novel solutions that offer potential for change in social and economic relations. Whereas some institutions are extractive and block social change, others are inclusive and support creativity and transformation. In this talk, I elaborate on the concept of institutions, envisage situations in which innovations and institutions clash, and I use empirical cases to demonstrate how innovations may succeed even in the face of institutional resistance. I elaborate on the concepts of controversial and illicit innovation as well as on different institutional morphologies of regional economies.

Keynote: Prof. Johannes Glückler (Heidelberg University)

Panelist: Prof. Zoltán Ács (George Mason University)

Moderators: Kincső Héjj-Csizmazia and Csaba Johanyák

Johannes Glückler is Professor of Economic and Social Geography and Fellow of the Marsilius Center of Advanced Studies at Heidelberg University. After his studies at the universities of Würzburg, Salamanca and the London School of Economics, he received his doctorate from the University of Frankfurt in 2004. Prior to his current position he was a professor of economic geography at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Bavaria.

He is a founding board member of the German Society for Network Research (DGNet), and co-founder of the Master of Governance of Risks and Resources at the Heidelberg Center for Latin America in Santiago de Chile. Johannes Glückler is the new editor of the Springer book series Knowledge & Space, and co-editor of the series Human Geography (Springer) and Economic Geography (LIT). He also serves on several editorial boards of the Journal of Economic Geography, Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie and Raumforschung und Raumordnung. He focuses on four lines of research geography, organization studies, network theory and the service industries.