Event

DEM Lunch Seminar with Stefano Baruffaldi, Polytechnic University of Milan, IT

The impact of mobility grants on researchers

Abstact

The international mobility of researchers has been central to the policy-makers’ agendas for several decades. Despite the growing presence of mobility grants within public funding agencies’ portfolios, empirical evidence on their effects remains scant. In this paper, we con-tribute to the literature by studying the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships, the flagship program of the EU, providing competitive grants to researchers to spend a research period abroad. Based on data for the universe of applicants to the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013), we exploit the discontinuity in grant assignment to uncover causal effects on individual researchers. Results show that Individual Fellowships are indeed conducive to higher chances of experiencing mobility to the scientists’ country of choice. Additionally, we show that grants supporting extra-European mobility, as opposed to those supporting mobility within Europe, lead to an increase in terms of publication quantity and quality, and help researchers expand their collaboration networks. This suggests that grants are most effective when targeting mobility flows subject to larger frictions.

About the speaker
Stefano Baruffaldi is Associate Professor at the School of Management of the Polytechnic University of Milan and a Senior Affiliated Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich. He holds a PhD in Economics and Management of Innovation from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), where he explored the role of proximity in science and innovation. His professional path includes a postdoctoral research position at the Max Planck Institute, a lecturer (assistant professor) role at the University of Bath, and a policy analyst position at the OECD in Paris, where he contributed to projects on innovation for inclusive growth within the Science, Technology and Innovation division. His research focuses on the mobility of scientists, knowledge diffusion, innovation policy, and the intersection of science and business. His empirical work spans topics such as international mobility of researchers, the role of social networks and conferences in scientific learning, and the disclosure of research through patents and publications. He has published in leading journals including Research Policy, Management Science, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Industry and Innovation, and Regional Studies.

Language

English

This is a free seminar. Registration is mandatory.





Supported by the Fond National de la Recherche,
Luxembourg (19441346)