During the past two years our research has expanded in both breadth and depth, as old themes are strengthened and new ones initiated. Keeping pace with the rapid technological developments seen both at home and abroad, BRIE continues to serve as a leading forum for research and discussion at the intersection of academics, business, and government policy making.

During the academic years 2004 to 2006, we began a new collaborative research project called the Innovation Alliance. This project was created by research and policy teams from Finland, Denmark and the United States’ San Francisco Bay Area in the. The Innovation Alliance’s goal is to answer the question of how wealthy regions are able to adapt effectively to competitive challenges posed by the shifting nature of the global marketplace. The project is envisioned as an ongoing set of policy and research discussions with the objective of constructing actionable policy initiatives for the three regions. BRIE has held several conferences in Helsinki and Berkeley.

We are pleased to announce our new publication How Revolutionary was the Digital Revolution?:National Responses, Market Transitions, and Global Technology in the Digital Era, edited by John Zysman and Abraham Newman. The book was a BRIE/ETLA Project and was published in 2006 by Stanford University Press. The objective of the book is to construct a framework of analysis for the international digital era, one that examines the ability of political actors to innovate and experiment in spite of or maybe because of the constraints posed by digital technology.

Another new publication to celebrate is The Politics of Greed: Privatization, Neo-Liberalism, and Plutocratic Capitalism in Central and Eastern Europeby Andrew Schwartz with the assistance of John Zysman and Jordan Gans-Morse. The book was published in October 2006 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. The project converted Andrew Schwartz’s dissertation, “Privatization in the Czech Republic” into a book. Schwartz was an extraordinarily talented student who fell ill and passed away before he finished his last chapter. This book is the legacy of an excellent young scholar and a testament to the enormous talent of a remarkable man.

We would like to thank our funding contributors and all of the participants who made our many workshops, conferences and seminars successful this past year. In particular we would like to acknowledge The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA) and The War Classes Endowment (Classes of 1945, ’46 & ’47) for their continued support.

The following report provides more extensive information on the research projects and outreach programs BRIE has pursued during the 2004-2006 academic years. Additional resources may be found at our website, http://brie.berkeley.edu. We thank you all for your support and interest in our research group and urge you to direct any comments or inquiries to brie@socrates.berkeley.edu.

Annual Report (PDF)