SPRU Freeman Friday Seminar: Professor Dietmar Harhoff, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
Fri 22 Mar 2024 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Jubilee Building, Room G32 and online, University of Sussex Business School, Brighton, BN1 9SL
Description
Title: Scientific Paradigms, Graphics Processing Units and the Evolution of Artificial Intelligence
Keywords:
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, neural networks, knowledge diffusion, regional spillovers, graphics processing unit, GPU
Abstract:
A sudden shift in scientific and technological paradigms lies at the heart of recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). Around 2012, traditional symbolic AI gave way to neural networks (NN) as the dominant approach for AI research. This coincided with the sudden successful application of graphics processing units (GPUs) as computational technology.
GPUs had been invented for a different application, i.e. accelerating complex graphics displays, mostly in video games. We claim that these developments reflect the nature of breakthrough innovations and have implications for regions competing to become AI leaders. We investigate the role of expertise in GPUs for the uptake of AI innovation across regions globally.
To this end, we construct a global database covering 2,088 urban areas for the period from 2000 to 2020. The data encompass a broad set of measures describing AI research and innovation activities, based on publications, patents and startups. We document the ascendancy of neural AI and its association with GPU expertise. Panel OLS and IV regressions demonstrate that after 2012 GPU- and NN-related human capital had a strong effect on the growth of AI-related patents and start-ups. We discuss implications for innovation policy.
Bio:
Dietmar Harhoff is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition and Professor for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich. His research focuses on innovation, entrepreneurship, intellectual property, industrial economics, and economic policy.
He has served in advisory functions to private and public organizations at various times. E.g. as Chairman of the Expert Commission on Research and Innovation (EFI) of the German Federal Government. He is now member of the German Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND) supervisory board.
After graduating in mechanical engineering he initially worked as a research engineer in the UK and Germany. He then completed a master's degree at Harvard University as a McCloy Scholar and doctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Location
Jubilee Building, Room G32 and online, University of Sussex Business School, Brighton, BN1 9SL