Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose

In the AI Story

IIPP represents an institutional response to a structural feature of academic economics: mainstream economics departments have systematically marginalized the analytical traditions — institutional economics, evolutionary economics, heterodox political economy — that Mazzucato's framework draws on. Building an institute provided a stable home for researchers working in these traditions and graduate students seeking training outside the neoclassical mainstream.

The institute's founding mandate centered on public-value economics — the application of economic analysis to questions of public purpose rather than to the narrower questions of market efficiency that dominate mainstream departments. This framing has enabled engagement with policy questions that mainstream economics treats as outside its scope: mission definition, public-sector innovation, the governance of common resources, the distribution of returns from innovation.

IIPP's research programs have grown substantially since founding. The Algorithmic Rents program, launched in 2020, produced peer-reviewed work on platform extraction that has shaped policy debates on competition, taxation, and AI governance. The Public Purpose in Finance program examines the role of central banks and financial institutions in directing capital toward public missions. The Missions program continues Mazzucato's work on mission-oriented innovation policy, informing EU and national-government strategies.

The institute's graduate programs — MPA in Innovation, Public Policy and Public Value, and PhD program — train a new generation of economists and policy practitioners in the public-value framework. Graduates have moved into positions in national treasuries, international organizations, NGOs, and academia, extending the framework's institutional reach beyond IIPP itself.

Origin

The institute was founded in 2017 following Mazzucato's move from the University of Sussex to UCL. Founding funding came from UCL itself, philanthropic foundations, and initial policy engagement contracts with governments and international organizations. The institute's location at UCL — a research university with strong traditions in interdisciplinary work — provided institutional support for the heterodox approach.

Since founding, IIPP has grown to include dozens of research staff, visiting scholars, and affiliated practitioners. Its research output has been extensive: hundreds of working papers, policy briefs, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles, complemented by policy advisory work at national and international levels.

Key Ideas

Public-value economics. The analytical framework centering economics on questions of public purpose rather than market efficiency.

Policy-academic integration. Sustained engagement with policy practitioners as integral to the research enterprise, not secondary to it.

Graduate training. Programs producing economists and policy practitioners trained in heterodox frameworks.

Research program structure. Multi-year programs with stable funding enabling deep work on specific questions (algorithmic rents, missions, public finance).

Global reach. Advisory work extending across EU, UK, South Africa, Brazil, Scotland, and multiple international organizations.

Debates & Critiques

Critics argue that IIPP's combination of research and advocacy compromises its academic rigor. Mazzucato's response is that the integration is a feature rather than a bug — academic frameworks that cannot inform policy practice are analytically impoverished, and policy practice disconnected from rigorous analysis produces poor outcomes.