Why Technology Governance & Sustainability?
Why this specialty?
* Our teaching approach fosters academic debate on diverse viewpoints—such as Western versus non-Western governance models and green growth versus post-growth perspectives—while promoting heterodox lenses, practice-based approaches, and a commitment to problem-orientation and activism.
* Through a combination of rigorous academic courses, consultancy and internship possibilities, research projects, and civic action opportunities, students are empowered to engage with and contribute to ongoing debates. Ultimately, they shape their own pathways that address theoretical, empirical, and practical sustainability challenges.
* The program offers site visits and guest lectures from leading Estonian and international innovators and visionaries.
* The minimum stay in Estonia is one year – the second year provides optional exchange studies and is dedicated to internship and the final exam that can be accomplished elsewhere.
* The faculty members are internationally distinguished and award-winning professors, bringing together some of the most renowned scholars of innovation and governance – Vasilis Kostakis, Wolfgang Drechsler, Carlota Perez, Erik S. Reinert, Jan A. Kregel, Erkki Karo and many others.
Just to highlight some of the current research topics our scholars focus on and integrate into their teaching modules:
* Prof. Vasilis Kostakis leads the large-scale European Research Council funded research project – Cosmolocalism – that will advance our understanding on how to create a sustainable economy through the commons. Read more from his brief post in Harvard Business Review and visit his research lab: http://www.p2plab.gr/en/.
* Prof. Erik S. Reinert, founder of The Other Canon Foundation, is one of the leading scholars on the history of economic development – see his famous book on How Rich Countries Got Rich and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor – and he is currently collaborating with the EU and OECD on developing new approaches to building sustainable development in the Global South and beyond.
* Prof. Carlota Perez, the author of best-selling Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital, The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages who has been recently named by Forbes among the three female economists whose work has been crucial for understanding today's economy, is currently researching the role of the state in directing innovation and economic development towards Smart Green Growth, see more: http://beyondthetechrevolution.com and http://www.carlotaperez.org.
* Prof. Wolfgang Drechsler, one of the founders of the Nurkse Department and the TGDT MA programme, is one of the leading scholars on the implications of digital transformation on governance and on how governments can deliver agile stability and capacities for future-oriented thinking in modern Western and non-Western societies.
* In addition, each year in spring, RND invites also a distinguished Ragnar Nurkse Visiting Professor (e.g. Jayati Ghosh, Randy Wray, Akira Nakamura) to discuss the most pertinent issues regarding globalization, development and innovation
