Welcome to Valuable Conversations with the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. Today’s guest is the legend herself, Dr. Carlota Perez. MPA alumni Teresa Miquel and Justin Beirold talk to Carlota about her life and work. We discuss her journey from architecture to economics (both heavily male-dominated fields), and how she began to formulate her theory of techno-economic paradigms. We also talk about how her theories apply to today’s world, with a particular emphasis on Latin America (where both Carlota and Tere are from). Carlota is 82 years young and sharp as a tack. It was an honor to record this conversation, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Guest Bio: Carlota Perez is a leading scholar on the socio-economic impact of technical change and the historical context of growth and development. She’s the author of the influential “Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages”, and she’s currently working on multiple projects which focus on the historical role of the state in shaping the context for innovation.

Carlota’s career has spanned civil service, academic research, teaching and consultancy. She is currently Honorary Professor at IIPP-UCL and at SPRU, University of Sussex; Professor of Technology and Development at TalTech, Estonia. an Academic-in-Residence at Anthemis. As a consultant she has worked for several Latin American governments and multilateral organisations, such as the UNCTAD, CEPAL, OECD and the World Bank; and for many global corporations, including IBM, Cisco, Telefonica and IKEA. She was recently chair of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Expert Group for Green Growth and Jobs and is now part of the EU-funded Beyond 4.0 project.

-Read more about Carlota from the IIPP: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/people/carlota-perez



-Part 1 of her 9 part blog series for the IIPP: “Second Machine Age or New Technological Revolution.” https://medium.com/iipp-blog/second-machine-age-or-fifth-technological-revolution-part-1-ed66b81a9352

- Follow Carlota on Twitter: @CarlotaPrzPerez

Learn about our MPA alumni hosts:

-María Teresa Miquel Arce (Link) https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/maria-teresa-miquel-arce

-Justin Beirold (Link) https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/justin-beirold

Follow IIPP on Twitter: @IIPP_UCL

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/

Production and music by Justin Beirold