Social Networks Predict the Emergence of Technologies. [Virtual Talk]

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 11:00:00 +0000

Abstract:

[ENG]

In this talk, I will provide an overview of the research we did in the past decade to better understand how technological innovations emerge, spread, and decline in social networks. Building on the unique historic dataset of a social media website, I will present a simple method to model adoption dynamics of a new technology at fine geographical scales. The model is able to predict the peak of adoption in most analyzed towns by only using the structure of the network and the identity of the first few adopters. Then, I will also introduce preliminary results indicating that the geographies of the social network play an important role in the decline of the platform. These insights suggest that the social network of interacting customers can help companies to maximize the spread of their products on the global and local scales and to better understand churn.

[ESP]

En esta charla, proporcionaré una visión general de la investigación que realizamos en la última década para comprender mejor cómo surgen, se difunden y declinan las innovaciones tecnológicas en las redes sociales. Basándome en el conjunto de datos históricos únicos de un sitio web de redes sociales, presentaré un método sencillo para modelar la dinámica de adopción de una nueva tecnología a escalas geográficas detalladas. El modelo es capaz de predecir el peak de adopción en la mayoría de las ciudades analizadas utilizando únicamente la estructura de la red y la identidad de los primeros adoptantes. Luego, también introduciré resultados preliminares que indican que las geografías de la red social juegan un papel importante en el declive de la plataforma. Estos conocimientos sugieren que la red social de clientes interactuantes puede ayudar a las empresas a maximizar la difusión de sus productos en escalas globales y locales y a comprender mejor la pérdida de clientes. (Traducido por ChatGPT).

Speaker Bio

Balázs Lengyel is an economic geographer and works on topics at the intersection of economic geography, innovation studies, and network science. He aims to understand how social interaction facilitates economic and technological progress embedded in geographical space. He is the head of ANET Lab, an interdisciplinary group focusing on agglomeration and networks. He is also an Associate Profssor at the Corvinus University of Budapest, where he participates in the Laboratory for Networks, Technology and Innovation and is also a board member of the Center for Collective Learning. Balázs was a visiting scholar at MIT Human Mobility and Networks Lab in 2016; he completed his PhD in economics at Budapest University of Technology and Economics in 2010 and holds a master degree from University of Szeged.

Do university researchers benefit from private R&D? [Virtual Talk]

Fri, 26 May 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Abstract:

[ENG]

Do university researchers benefit from related private R&D? How is this benefit shaped by the urban environment around them? This study uses the staggered roll-out of state level R&D tax credits in the U.S. combined with a dataset of publications by academic departments, to study the extent to which incentives to industry R&D benefit university research. Results show that for academic departments in areas dense with related industry R&D the introduction of R&D tax credits translated into 11.5% more academic publications, while the effect for unrelated industry R&D is much smaller. Using the density of cafes and restaurants in the area around each university as a proxy for urban vibrancy, we show that for academic departments in areas dense with related industry R&D urban vibrancy increased the effect of R&D tax credits on universities. In contrast, urban vibrancy does not increase the benefit for departments in areas dense with unrelated industry R&D. These results show that although the urban environment can increase the positive externalities of investment in R&D, it cannot create innovation by itself.

[ESP]

¿Se benefician los investigadores académicos del I+D privado? ¿Cómo se configura este beneficio por el entorno urbano que les rodea? Este estudio utiliza la implementación escalonada de créditos fiscales estatales para I+D en EE.UU., combinada con un conjunto de datos de publicaciones de departamentos académicos, para estudiar hasta qué punto los incentivos para la inversión en I+D de la industria benefician a la investigación académica. Los resultados muestran que para los departamentos académicos en áreas densas con industrias I+D de la industria relacionadas, la introducción de créditos fiscales para I+D se tradujo en un 11.5% más de publicaciones académicas, mientras que el efecto en la I+D de industrias no relacionada es mucho menor. Utilizando la densidad de cafeterías y restaurantes en el área alrededor de cada universidad como un indicador de la vitalidad urbana, demostramos que para los departamentos académicos en áreas densas con I+D de la industria relacionada, la vitalidad urbana aumentó el efecto de los créditos fiscales para I+D en las universidades. En contraste, la vitalidad urbana no aumenta el beneficio para los departamentos en áreas densas con I+D de la industria no relacionada. Estos resultados muestran que aunque el entorno urbano puede aumentar las externalidades positivas de la inversión en I+D, no puede crear innovación por sí mismo. (Traducido por ChatGPT).

Speaker Bio

Dr. Cristian Jara-Figueroa is a Senior Data Scientist at LinkedIn's Economic Graph. Cristian works in a team that turns LinkedIn data into insights to help members, media, and policymakers understand the labor market. Cristian got his PhD at the MIT Media Lab. His research focused on the geographic diffusion of knowledge. In particular, in understanding how regions can leverage the knowledge they have access to, in order to diversify into more productive and more inclusive industries.

Economic geography | CRiSS-LAB Chile

Social Networks Predict the Emergence of Technologies. [Virtual Talk]

Abstract:

Speaker Bio

Do university researchers benefit from private R&D? [Virtual Talk]

Abstract:

Speaker Bio