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{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{other people|Chris Freeman}}
{{other people|Chris Freeman}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox economist
{{Infobox economist
| name = Christopher Freeman
| name = Christopher Freeman
| school_tradition = [[Schumpeterian]]
| school_tradition = [[Schumpeterian]]
| image = Freeman_by_Santhosh.png
| image =
| institution = [[Science Policy Research Unit]]
| institution = [[Science Policy Research Unit]]
| field = Science Policy and Innovation
| field = Science Policy and Innovation
| influences = [[Karl Marx]]<br>[[Joseph Schumpeter]]<br>[[John Desmond Bernal]]
| influences = [[Karl Marx]]<br>[[Joseph Schumpeter]]<br>[[John Desmond Bernal]]
| influenced = [[Keith Pavitt]]<br>[[Carlota Perez]]<br>[[Mary Kaldor]]<br>[[Luc Soete]]<br>[[Giorgio Sirilli]]<br>[[Giovanni Dosi]]<br>[[B.-Å. Lundvall]]<br>[[Daniele Archibugi]]<br>[[Jan Fagerberg]]|birth_date={{Birth date|1921|09|11|df=yes}}|death_date={{Death date and age|2010|08|16|1921|09|11|df=yes}}
|birth_date={{Birth date|1921|09|11|df=yes}}|death_date={{Death date and age|2010|08|16|1921|09|11|df=yes}}
|awards=Bernal Prize (1987), [[Schumpeter Prize]] (1988), Prix International du Futuroscope (1993), World Technology Network Award for Policy (2001), Silver [[Kondratieff Medal]] (2007)
|awards=Bernal Prize (1987), [[Schumpeter Prize]] (1988), Prix International du Futuroscope (1993), World Technology Network Award for Policy (2001), Silver [[Kondratieff Medal]] (2007)
|nationality=British
|nationality=British
|spouses={{plainlist|
|spouses={{marriage|Peggotty Selson| |1971|end=her death}}<br />{{marriage|Margaret Young| | |end=div}}<br />{{marriage|[[Carlota Perez|Carlota Perez]]|2007||end=}}
* {{marriage|Peggotty Selson| |1971|end=her death}}
* {{marriage|Margaret Young| | |end=div}}
* {{marriage|[[Carlota Perez]]|2007||end=}}
}}
|birth_place=[[Sheffield]], [[England]]|death_place=[[Lewes]], [[England]]}}
|birth_place=[[Sheffield]], [[England]]|death_place=[[Lewes]], [[England]]}}


'''Christopher Freeman''' (11 September 1921 – 16 August 2010)<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://blog.openinnovation.net/2010/08/chris-freeman-1921-2010.html | title=Chris Freeman, 1921-2010}}</ref> was a [[British people|British]] [[economist]], the founder and first director of [[SPRU|Science Policy Research Unit]] at the [[University of Sussex]], and one of the most eminent researchers in innovation studies, modern [[Kondratiev wave]] and [[business cycle]] theorists.<ref>Jan Toporowski and
'''Christopher Freeman''' (11 September 1921 – 16 August 2010)<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://blog.openinnovation.net/2010/08/chris-freeman-1921-2010.html | title=Chris Freeman, 1921-2010 | access-date=16 August 2010 | archive-date=20 August 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820013650/http://blog.openinnovation.net/2010/08/chris-freeman-1921-2010.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> was a [[British people|British]] [[economist]], recognised as one of the founders of the post-war school of Innovation Studies. He played a lead role in the development of the [[Neo-Schumpeterian economics|neo-Schumpeterian]] tradition focusing on the crucial role of innovation for economic development and of scientific and technological activities for well-being.<ref>Jan Toporowski and
Alan Freeman, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-christopher-freeman-influential-economist-whose-radical-views-gave-him-a-healthy-suspicion-of-capitalism-2125514.html Professor Christopher Freeman: Influential economist whose radical views gave him a healthy suspicion of capitalism] [[The Independent]], Friday 5 November 2010.</ref> Freeman contributed substantially to the revival of the [[Joseph Schumpeter|neo-Schumpeterian]] tradition focusing on the crucial role of innovation for economic development and of scientific and technological activities for well-being.
Alan Freeman, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-christopher-freeman-influential-economist-whose-radical-views-gave-him-a-healthy-suspicion-of-capitalism-2125514.html Professor Christopher Freeman: Influential economist whose radical views gave him a healthy suspicion of capitalism] [[The Independent]], Friday 5 November 2010.</ref><ref name=":0" />


Freeman was the founder and the first Director, from 1966 to 1982 of [[SPRU]], the [[Science Policy Research Unit]] of the [[University of Sussex]], England, and RM Phillips Professor of Science Policy and later Professor Emeritus of at the University of Sussex. His fields of specialization were the economics of innovation and technical change, science and technology indicators, the diffusion of technologies, structural change in the world economy, and the "catch-up" efforts of developing countries. In 1986, on his formal retirement, he became visiting professor at the [[Aalborg University]] in Denmark and professorial fellow at the now [[Maastricht University]] in the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/7987544/Christopher-Freeman.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Christopher Freeman | date=7 September 2010}}</ref>
Freeman was the founder and first Director, from 1966 to 1982, of [[SPRU]], the [[Science Policy Research Unit]] of the [[University of Sussex]], England, and RM Phillips Professor of Science Policy and later Professor Emeritus of at the University of Sussex.<ref>{{Cite web|title=History of SPRU|url=https://www.sussex.ac.uk/business-school/people-and-departments/spru/about/history|access-date=2022-02-25|website=History of SPRU}}</ref> In 1986, on his formal retirement, he became visiting professor at the [[Aalborg University]] in Denmark and professorial fellow at the now [[Maastricht University]] in the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/7987544/Christopher-Freeman.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Christopher Freeman | date=7 September 2010}}</ref>


With various colleagues, Freeman made pioneering contributions to Innovation Studies in a number of respects. As consultant for the OECD, he was responsible for the development of 'The Frascati Manual', the first program designed to collect and standardize the statistics on [[R&D]] which resulted in the development of now commonly-used science and technology indicators at OECD.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Directorate for Scientific Affairs|title=The Measurement of Scientific and Technical Activities - Proposed Standard Practice for Surveys of Research and Development|publisher=OECD|year=1963|pages=6}}</ref> He helped to shape a tradition of research into firm-based innovation during the early 1970s and was a prominent participant in the discussion around the influential Club of Rome's Limits to Growth Report, arguing presciently that the response to [[environmental degradation]] required a reformulation of the character of economic growth rather than the elimination of economic growth.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/731665|title=Thinking about the future: a critique of The limits to growth;|publisher=Chatto & Windus for Sussex University Press|year=1973|isbn=0-85621-018-8|editor-last=Cole|editor-first=H. S. D.|location=London|oclc=731665|editor-last2=Freeman|editor-first2=Chris|editor-last3=Jahoda|editor-first3=Marie|editor-last4=Pavitt|editor-first4=Keith L. R.}}</ref> With colleagues he played a lead role in recognising the historic significance of the development of microelectronic based technologies. This matured into the development of what has come to be called the Techno-Economic Paradigm theory of long waves, building on [[Kondratiev wave|Kondratieff long wave theory]]. In collaboration with [[Carlota Perez]] (whom he subsequently married), [[Luc Soete]] and [[Francisco Louçã]] he made path-breaking contributions to this field.
Besides his intellectual contributions in the economics of innovation and systems of innovation, Christopher Freeman was 'an academic entrepreneur'. Among the innovations for which he was responsible was 'The Frascati Manual', an [[OECD]] venture meant to collect and standardize the statistics on [[R&D]], and the subsequent stream of work science and technology indicators at OECD and around the world. Secondly, he set up, shaped and for many years directed the Science Policy Research Unit, SPRU, which during the 1970s and 1980s was the pioneering institution in the field. Thirdly, with colleagues at SPRU, in the United States, in France and in Germany, he founded and edited for over 30 years the journal [[Research Policy (journal)|''Research Policy'']], establishing it as the leading journal in the field. His major book, The Economics of Industrial Innovation, was copied by Ugo Pereira.


In the early 1990s, together with [[B.-Å. Lundvall]], Freeman developed the concept of [[National System of Innovation]]<ref name=":0">{{cite news|last=Kaldor|first=Mary|title=Christopher Freeman obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/sep/08/christopher-freeman-obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|date=8 September 2010|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lundvall|first=Bengt‐Åke|date=February 2007|title=National Innovation Systems—Analytical Concept and Development Tool|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13662710601130863|journal=Industry & Innovation|language=en|volume=14|issue=1|pages=95–119|doi=10.1080/13662710601130863|s2cid=7663829 |issn=1366-2716}}</ref> which is widely used to understand the multiple drivers of innovation paths in different countries, regions and sectors. Throughout his career and influenced by [[J. D. Bernal|John Desmond Bernal]], his mentor at the [[London School of Economics]] where he studied after demobilisation after World War II, Freeman fused an analysis of the determinants of innovation in contemporary capitalism with an abiding interest in the social shaping and impact of economic growth.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Freeman|first=Christopher|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/25713361|title=The economics of hope : essays on technical change, economic growth, and the environment|date=1992|publisher=Pinter Publishers|isbn=1-85567-083-6|location=London|oclc=25713361}}</ref> As a natural consequence of this, Freeman had a deep commitment to the understanding and promotion of an equitable path of economic growth in the developing world (as seen in the [[Sussex Manifesto]]).
He introduced the concept of [[National System of Innovation]]<ref>{{cite news|last=Kaldor|first=Mary|title=Christopher Freeman obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/sep/08/christopher-freeman-obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|date=8 September 2010|location=London}}</ref> with [[B.-Å. Lundvall]] and [[Richard R. Nelson|Richard Nelson]].


He mentored several generations of economists and social scientists working on technical change, innovation and the knowledge society. Among them, [[Keith Pavitt]], [[Luc Soete]], [[Carlota Perez]], [[Mary Kaldor]], [[B.-Å. Lundvall]], [[Igor Yegorov (economist)|Igor Yegorov]], [[Giorgio Sirilli]], [[Daniele Archibugi]], [[Giovanni Dosi]] and [[Jan Fagerberg]]. His intellectual legacy has extended to almost every continent through SPRU graduates, some of whom have applied his thinking to the role of innovation in development in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Programs that have their origins in his work can be traced at leading public policy institutions such as the [[Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs]] at [[Harvard Kennedy School]].
As a consequence of these significant and wide-ranging contributions, Freeman interacted with and mentored a number of economists and social scientists such as Geoffrey Oldham,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bell|first=Martin|date=26 November 2017|title=Geoffrey Oldham obituary|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/nov/26/geoffrey-oldham-obituary|access-date=22 February 2022}}</ref> [[Keith Pavitt]], [[Luc Soete]], [[Carlota Perez]], [[B.-Å. Lundvall]], [[Francisco Louçã]], Martin Bell, [[Daniele Archibugi]], [[Giovanni Dosi]], [[Julian Perry Robinson]] and [[Jan Fagerberg]]. His intellectual legacy has extended to almost every continent through SPRU graduates, some of whom have applied his thinking to the role of innovation in development in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Programs that have their origins in his work can be traced at leading public policy institutions such as the [[Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs]] at [[Harvard Kennedy School]], where one of his influential African students [[Calestous Juma]] played a leading role.


== Awards and honours ==
==Early life==
Freeman held several honorary doctorates including those from the Universities of [[Linköping University|Linköping]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.brighton.ac.uk/alumni/our-alumni/honorary-graduates/index.aspx |title=Honorary doctors at Linköping University |access-date=16 Jan 2022}}</ref> [[University of Sussex|Sussex]], [[Middlesex University|Middlesex]], [[University of Birmingham|Birmingham]], [[University of Brighton|Brighton]],.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.brighton.ac.uk/alumni/our-alumni/honorary-graduates/index.aspx |title=Honorary graduates |access-date=16 Jan 2022}}</ref> He received the 1987 Bernal Prize,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.4sonline.org/prize/earlier-bernal-prize-winners/ |title=Earlier Bernal Prize Winners |date=6 October 2020 |access-date=16 Jan 2022}}</ref> the 1988 [[Schumpeter Prize]], and the 1993 Prix International du Futuroscope. In 2007 he was awarded with the Silver [[Kondratieff Medal]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ikf2010.ru/index.php?id=32_0_1_0_C |title=The International N. D. Kondratieff Foundation |access-date=29 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195235/http://www.ikf2010.ru/index.php?id=32_0_1_0_C |archive-date=29 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> by [[International N. D. Kondratiev Foundation|the International N. D. Kondratieff Foundation]] and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RAEN).
===Parents===


===Childhood, adolescence and youth===

===Education===

===Military service===

==Influences==
===Karl Marx===

===John Maynard Keynes===
Luc Soete wrote<ref>[https://www.cris-is.org/freeman On Freeman]</ref> that it was the focus on the firm, the entrepreneurial dynamics associated with innovation and its diffusion that "led to Freeman's critique of neo-Keynesian analysis during the oil crisis and the lack of recognition of the role of technical innovation, the same critique he made on Marx and Schumpeter. In this sense he was a Keynesian Schumpeterian.

″Some neo-Keynesian analysis appears to abstract completely from consideration of technical innovation; growth is simply accompanied by the emergence of new industries and technologies. For Schumpeter the system is driven by such technical innovations and their diffusion. In the one case, the emphasis is entirely on manipulation of the level of aggregate demand and it is a matter of more or less complete indifference as to which are the new technologies and how they diffuse through the system. In the other case, the emphasis is on innovative entrepreneurship and it matters very much which are the conditions which may hinder or promote particular types of technical change.″<ref>Freeman, Reference needed</ref>

Doing so Freeman was at pains to emphasize how Keynes himself had acknowledged the importance of innovation as opposed to short term fiscal and monetary policies. He often quoted the following extract from Keynes’ Treatise on Money:

“Entrepreneurs are induced to embark on the production of fixed capital or deterred from doing so by their expectations of the profit to be made. Apart from the many minor reasons why these should fluctuate in a changing world, Professor Schumpeter’s explanation of the major movements may be unreservedly accepted.” (Keynes, 1930, p. 86)<ref>Freeman, Reference needed</ref>.

These “major movements” in which technical innovations plaid a major role, led Freeman in the late 70s to follow Schumpeter in his recognition of the existence of aggregate wave-like transformations in the economy resulting directly from what he referred to as:

“constellations of innovations… what we shall call ‘new technology systems’ rather than haphazard bunches of discrete ‘basic innovations’. From this standpoint, which we believe was essentially that of Schumpeter, the ‘clusters’ of innovations are associated with a technological web, with the growth of new industries and services involving distinct new groupings of firms with their own ‘subculture’ and distinct technology, and with new patterns of consumer behaviour”<ref>Freeman, Reference needed</ref>.

Doing so, Freeman established the link between detailed knowledge on the micro-study of the nature and origin of technical innovations and their diffusion and Schumpeterian process of creative destruction, structural dynamics and evolutionary dynamics."

===Joseph Schumpeter===

Luc Soete wrote the following about the influence of Schumpeter on Freeman<ref>Technology and the Human Prospect: Essays in Honour of Christopher Freeman edited by Roy MacLeod. London: Pinter Pub Ltd (1986)</ref>:

“The emergence of Freeman’s previous concept of ‘new technological systems’ might well be considered as similar to the concept of change in technological paradigm, already used extensively in his Schumpeterian writings. Freeman broadened his still relatively narrow, technology-orientated concept of ‘new technology systems’ to the far broader concept suggested by Perez in one of the most influential articles in the area of long waves, of change in technological regime or change in techno-economic or socio-economic paradigm. The view that the structural crisis brought about by the depression is, in Perez’s words, “the visible syndrome of a breakdown in the complementarity between the dynamics of the economic subsystem and the related dynamics of the socio-institutional framework’ and amounts not only to a process of “creative destruction” or “abnormal liquidation” in the economic sphere, but also in the socio-institutional appeals particularly to Freeman. Indeed, Freeman, despite his strong Schumpeterian allegiances, fully acknowledges the point made by Perez that Schumpeter did only have a narrow economic (if any) interpretation of the occurrence of depressions. As he puts it: “Despite [Schumpeter’s] acceptance of the importance of organizational and managerial innovations and the breadth of his approach to the development of social sciences , his theory of depression is narrowly economic” and further reiterating the point made by Perez, he adds: “But it is the ‘mismatch’ between the institutional framework with its high degree of inertia, and the outstanding revealed cost and productivity advantages of the new technological paradigm which provides to search for social and political solutions of the crisis.”

===John Desmond Bernal===

Luc Soete wrote<ref>[https://www.cris-is.org/freeman On Freeman]</ref> that the paragraphs below (Fagerberg et al., 2011)<ref>[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2011.06.011 Christopher Freeman: social science entrepreneur]</ref> describe best the influence of Marx and Bernal on Freeman.

“As a young man Freeman had been exposed to Marx’s evolutionary perspective on capitalist development, and this came to have a lasting impression on his understanding of social, economic and institutional change. Marx had analysed capitalism as a dynamic system characterized by continuous interaction between capital accumulation, technological progress and social and institutional conditions, and Freeman was strongly influenced by this perspective, as many others had been before him. Yet although Marx characterized capitalism as a historically progressive system, he also held that its social and institutional conditions needed to be radically changed (or revolutionized) if society was to reap the full benefits of potential technological progress, a view that many in the crisis-ridden Western societies of the 1930s came to sympathize with. However, like many of his generation, Freeman eventually became disillusioned with the attempts to engineer such radical changes in the Soviet Union and elsewhere[1], and decided to focus on how one might get the most out of technological progress here and now through appropriately shaped policy and management.

Around the time of the 2nd World War Freeman studied at the London School of Economics (only interrupted by war service). He was, however, dissatisfied with the kind of economics that was taught there, which he saw as overly static in character (in contrast to Marx’ dynamic approach) and totally deficient when it came to analysing technological progress and its relationship with science, an aspect that Freeman considered to be of increasing importance economically and politically. On the latter, he was influenced by the natural scientist and writer, J. D. Bernal, a devoted Marxist, who at the time gave extracurricular courses which Freeman attended. Bernal was a strong believer in the potential of scientific research, not only in universities but also in industry, to promote the welfare of mankind (Bernal, 1939). He argued that radically increasing the amount of research might benefit society enormously provided this was matched by appropriate policies and management. To support his argument, Bernal also provided an empirical estimate of the (rather modest) amount of resources devoted to this in the UK at the time. Freeman found this line of inquiry particularly inspiring. In a later paper, he pointed out:

″Bernal went beyond Schumpeter and Marx in his perception of the extent to which the R&D function had become professionalised and internalised within both industry and government. (. . .) Bernal’s principal contribution to economics and the other social sciences was his clear perception that the allocation of resources to the various branches of organised R&D and related scientific services and their efficient management had become crucial for the development and performance of nations and enterprises.″<ref>Freeman, C., 1992. The Economics of Hope: Essays on Technical Change, Economic Growth and the Environment. Pinter, London. Page 5.</ref>

Despite his admiration for Bernal, Freeman realized that any analysis of the contribution from science and technology to economic progress would be deficient without a thorough understanding of what drives technological activities in firms, something that he felt was missing both in Bernal’s work and in the kind of economics he was taught while attending university. There was, however, another perspective that he found more helpful in this regard. In Capital, Marx had put forward the theory that the driving force behind capitalist development was technological competition between firms and, as is well known, Schumpeter later made this the cornerstone of his theory. [...]

Freeman’s vision became ultimately based on Marx’s and Schumpeter’s dynamic evolutionary outlook, with capitalist firms at the centre. However, he strongly felt that their analyses, largely for reasons to do with changes in the economy (and society) since their times, had failed to properly take into account the role of R&D at the level of the firm and in society more generally, as well as their interactions (Freeman, 1968b, 1974, 1992).”

===Harold Laski===

===Michael Posner===

===Gary Hufbauer===

==Career==

====NIESR & FBI====

====The Frascati Manual====

====Sussex and SPRU====

[[File:Jubilee Building, University of Sussex.jpg|thumb|The Jubilee Building, where SPRU is currently based]]

====Teaching career====

===Major projects===

====SAPPHO====

====TEMPO====

====STAFF (Social and Technological Alternatives for the Future)====

====SPRU====

[[File:LPS school sussex.jpg|thumb|The Freeman Building, where SPRU was located until 2013]]

====TEP project====

====The Greening of Technology====

====Need for a New Mission Approach====

====International Technology Diffusion and Long Waves====

====Information Society for the EC====

====JOBS Study for the OECD====

====Research Policy====

===On ‘Limits to growth’===

===Institution building===

====SPRU<ref>Written by Howard Rush in correspondence with GK Rajesh</ref>====

=====The beginnings=====

In the 1960s Freeman was approached by the then Vice-Chancellor of the newly formed [[University of Sussex]] asking him to set up a research unit for Science Policy. The original cell that initiated [[SPRU]] was set by [[Geoff Oldham]] as Deputy Director, Jackie Fuller as Administrator and Chris Freeman as Director.

=====The Mantell Building=====

By the early 1980s, [[SPRU]] had long moved to three floors in the Mantell Building, had many researchers and had gained a worldwide reputation as the pioneer in innovation research.

=====The Freeman Centre=====

In 2002 ground was broken for the Freeman Centre – a new state of the art research building to house two of Britain’s leading centres of excellence in science and technology policy and innovation management. The two centres, [[SPRU]] (Science and Technology Policy Research) at the [[University of Sussex]] and [[CENTRIM]] (Centre for Research in Innovation Management) at the [[University of Brighton]] already had a long history of collaboration. Howard Rush, Ben Martin, Mike Hobday and David Gann seized an opportunity to respond to a special ESRC Call for Proposals for joint infrastructure funding, successfully arguing the case for bringing together theory, policy, and practice, under the same roof.
Once funding was secured, they worked closely with the architects and contractors to design a building aimed at creating an environment that would enhance the possibilities to work collaboratively, interactively, and creatively in what was to become the largest cluster of innovation researchers in the world. The leaders of the two universities agreed that the new centre would be located on the University of Sussex campus, in an area known as ‘the wild meadow’.
But what to name the building?
There was unanimous agreement that it should bear Chris’s name, but getting the ever-modest Chris to agree to having a building named after him was always going to be tough work. That he had inspired and supported the work of probably every researcher in the two groups and that he was one of the leading figures in the field was clearly not going to cut it with Chris. So Howard Rush and Mike Hobday took him to one of his favourite pubs in Lewes, where over a couple of pints, they argued how beneficial it would be for the funding proposal: only 2% of bids to the call were likely to be successful and therefore it would be an enormous help to have Chris directly associated with it. Chris counter-argued that buildings should only be named after dead people. They told him that this could be arranged – at which point he reluctantly agreed.
For the decade between 2003 and 2013, [[SPRU]] and [[CENTRIM]] thrived in the Freeman Centre, which also attracted hundreds of collaborators and users of their research from academia, industry, and government.
However, in 2013, Michael Farthing, the then Vice-Chancellor of Sussex, decided to address a financial crisis at his university by creating a School of Business, Management and Economics, and incorporating SPRU into that new school. To everyone’s dismay, his decision involved not only removing [[SPRU]] from the Freeman Centre to another location on the other side of campus, but also the Freeman name from the building. This decision was met by a strong international campaign involving over 650 current and past colleagues, students, and associates of [[SPRU]]. Within two weeks the University partially reversed its decision and Chris’s name remains in place on the building, but sadly it no longer contains [[SPRU]] and [[CENTRIM]] researchers.

====Aalborg & IKE====

====Limburg====

====MERIT====

===Theories and Conceptualisation===

====Evolutionary Economics====

Francisco Louçã wrote the following<ref>Correspondence between Louçã and GK Rajesh</ref>:
Through his lifelong work, Freeman synthesized three theoretical approaches: the Cambridge tradition considering economies as organic totalities; the classical vision of the economy as the expression of social relations; and foremost the Schumpeterian view on capitalism as an adaptive and innovative system moved by profit accumulation. The synthesis was provided by evolutionary economics, dealing with dynamic social forces in complex institutional systems, emphasizing the role of endogenous change generated in techno-economic paradigms that organize the system of production.
For Freeman, evolutionary economics should look at non-equilibrium processes in which bounded rationality prevails, as heterogeneous agents learn and adapt both within and outside markets. Endogenous preferences and innovations, knowledge-based and capability-based firms in national systems of innovation, and coordination, impart a structure far different from the optimization and rational expectations framework pushed by mainstream economics since the 1970s. This evolutionary economics is concerned with the drivers, patterns of change and mechanisms of coordination, and uses stylized facts from empirical observation, exploring regularities and structures, or factually based conjectures. In this sense, Freeman established himself as a neo-Schumpeterian of a kind:

“the description 'neo-Schumpeterian' is used here in a very broad sense to indicate the scope of the subject matter, rather than an ideological standpoint” <ref>Freeman, C. (1994), “The Economics of Technical Change”, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 18(5): 463-514, p.464</ref>

====National Innovation Systems====

====Techno-economic Paradigms: Collaboration with Carlota Perez====

== Awards and honors ==
Freeman held several honorary doctorates including those from the Universities of [[Linköping University|Linköping]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.brighton.ac.uk/alumni/our-alumni/honorary-graduates/index.aspx |title=Honorary doctors at Linköping University |access-date=16 Jan 2022}}</ref>, [[University of Sussex|Sussex]], [[Middlesex University|Middlesex]], [[University of Birmingham|Birmingham]], [[University of Brighton|Brighton]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.brighton.ac.uk/alumni/our-alumni/honorary-graduates/index.aspx |title=Honorary graduates |access-date=16 Jan 2022}}</ref>, . He received the 1987 Bernal Prize<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.4sonline.org/prize/earlier-bernal-prize-winners/ |title=Earlier Bernal Prize Winners |access-date=16 Jan 2022}}</ref>, the 1988 [[Schumpeter Prize]], and the 1993 Prix International du Futuroscope. In 2007 he was awarded with the Silver [[Kondratieff Medal]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ikf2010.ru/index.php?id=32_0_1_0_C |title=The International N. D. Kondratieff Foundation |access-date=29 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195235/http://www.ikf2010.ru/index.php?id=32_0_1_0_C |archive-date=29 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> by [[International N. D. Kondratiev Foundation|the International N. D. Kondratieff Foundation]] and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RAEN).
The [[SPRU|Freeman Centre]] building in [[Brighton]], former home to [[CENTRIM]] and [[SPRU]], is named after him.
The [[SPRU|Freeman Centre]] building in [[Brighton]], former home to [[CENTRIM]] and [[SPRU]], is named after him.


==Selected publications==
==Legacy==

==Selected Publications==
*Developing science, technology and innovation indicators: What we can learn from the past, Research Policy, 2009, vol. 38, issue 4, pages 583-589 (with Luc L. Soete), [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733309000237 doi:10.1016/j.respol.2009.01.018]
*Developing science, technology and innovation indicators: What we can learn from the past, Research Policy, 2009, vol. 38, issue 4, pages 583-589 (with Luc L. Soete), [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733309000237 doi:10.1016/j.respol.2009.01.018]
*''Systems of Innovation: Selected Essays in Evolutionary Economics'', Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2008.
*''Systems of Innovation: Selected Essays in Evolutionary Economics'', Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2008.
Line 179: Line 47:
==Works on Freeman==
==Works on Freeman==
*Technology and the Human Prospect: Essays in Honour of Christopher Freeman edited by Roy MacLeod. London: Pinter Pub Ltd (1986)
*Technology and the Human Prospect: Essays in Honour of Christopher Freeman edited by Roy MacLeod. London: Pinter Pub Ltd (1986)
*Mammo Muchie; [https://doi.org/10.1080/2157930X.2011.575688 Christopher Freeman: the founder and doyen of the economics of innovation theory] ''Innovation and Development'', Volume 1, Issue 1, 2011, pages 135-150.
*Mammo Muchie; [https://doi.org/10.1080/2157930X.2011.575688 Christopher Freeman: the founder and doyen of the economics of innovation theory] ''Innovation and Development'', Volume 1, Issue 1, 2011, pages 135–150.
*Jan Fagerberg, Morten Fosaas, Martin Bell and Ben R. Martin; [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2011.06.011 Christopher Freeman: social science entrepreneur] ''Research Policy'', Volume 40, Issue 7, September 2011, Pages 897-916.
*Jan Fagerberg, Morten Fosaas, Martin Bell and Ben R. Martin; [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2011.06.011 Christopher Freeman: social science entrepreneur] ''Research Policy'', Volume 40, Issue 7, September 2011, Pages 897–916.


==References==
==References==

Latest revision as of 09:38, 16 May 2024

For other people named Chris Freeman, see Chris Freeman (disambiguation).

Christopher Freeman
Born(1921-09-11)11 September 1921
Sheffield, England
Died16 August 2010(2010-08-16) (aged 88)
Lewes, England
NationalityBritish
Spouses
Peggotty Selson
​
(died 1971)​
Margaret Young
​
(divorced)​
​
(after 2007)​
Academic career
FieldScience Policy and Innovation
InstitutionScience Policy Research Unit
School or
tradition		Schumpeterian
InfluencesKarl Marx
Joseph Schumpeter
John Desmond Bernal
AwardsBernal Prize (1987), Schumpeter Prize (1988), Prix International du Futuroscope (1993), World Technology Network Award for Policy (2001), Silver Kondratieff Medal (2007)

Christopher Freeman (11 September 1921 – 16 August 2010)[1] was a British economist, recognised as one of the founders of the post-war school of Innovation Studies. He played a lead role in the development of the neo-Schumpeterian tradition focusing on the crucial role of innovation for economic development and of scientific and technological activities for well-being.[2][3]

Freeman was the founder and first Director, from 1966 to 1982, of SPRU, the Science Policy Research Unit of the University of Sussex, England, and RM Phillips Professor of Science Policy and later Professor Emeritus of at the University of Sussex.[4] In 1986, on his formal retirement, he became visiting professor at the Aalborg University in Denmark and professorial fellow at the now Maastricht University in the Netherlands.[5]

With various colleagues, Freeman made pioneering contributions to Innovation Studies in a number of respects. As consultant for the OECD, he was responsible for the development of 'The Frascati Manual', the first program designed to collect and standardize the statistics on R&D which resulted in the development of now commonly-used science and technology indicators at OECD.[6] He helped to shape a tradition of research into firm-based innovation during the early 1970s and was a prominent participant in the discussion around the influential Club of Rome's Limits to Growth Report, arguing presciently that the response to environmental degradation required a reformulation of the character of economic growth rather than the elimination of economic growth.[7] With colleagues he played a lead role in recognising the historic significance of the development of microelectronic based technologies. This matured into the development of what has come to be called the Techno-Economic Paradigm theory of long waves, building on Kondratieff long wave theory. In collaboration with Carlota Perez (whom he subsequently married), Luc Soete and Francisco Louçã he made path-breaking contributions to this field.

In the early 1990s, together with B.-Å. Lundvall, Freeman developed the concept of National System of Innovation[3][8] which is widely used to understand the multiple drivers of innovation paths in different countries, regions and sectors. Throughout his career and influenced by John Desmond Bernal, his mentor at the London School of Economics where he studied after demobilisation after World War II, Freeman fused an analysis of the determinants of innovation in contemporary capitalism with an abiding interest in the social shaping and impact of economic growth.[9] As a natural consequence of this, Freeman had a deep commitment to the understanding and promotion of an equitable path of economic growth in the developing world (as seen in the Sussex Manifesto).

As a consequence of these significant and wide-ranging contributions, Freeman interacted with and mentored a number of economists and social scientists such as Geoffrey Oldham,[10] Keith Pavitt, Luc Soete, Carlota Perez, B.-Å. Lundvall, Francisco Louçã, Martin Bell, Daniele Archibugi, Giovanni Dosi, Julian Perry Robinson and Jan Fagerberg. His intellectual legacy has extended to almost every continent through SPRU graduates, some of whom have applied his thinking to the role of innovation in development in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Programs that have their origins in his work can be traced at leading public policy institutions such as the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, where one of his influential African students Calestous Juma played a leading role.

Awards and honours

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Freeman held several honorary doctorates including those from the Universities of Linköping,[11] Sussex, Middlesex, Birmingham, Brighton,.[12] He received the 1987 Bernal Prize,[13] the 1988 Schumpeter Prize, and the 1993 Prix International du Futuroscope. In 2007 he was awarded with the Silver Kondratieff Medal[14] by the International N. D. Kondratieff Foundation and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RAEN).

The Freeman Centre building in Brighton, former home to CENTRIM and SPRU, is named after him.

Selected publications

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  • Developing science, technology and innovation indicators: What we can learn from the past, Research Policy, 2009, vol. 38, issue 4, pages 583-589 (with Luc L. Soete), doi:10.1016/j.respol.2009.01.018
  • Systems of Innovation: Selected Essays in Evolutionary Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2008.
  • As Time Goes By: From the Industrial Revolutions to the Information Revolution (co-author with Francisco Louçã), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002.
  • The Economics of Industrial Innovation, 3rd edn. (co-author with Luc Soete), Pinter, London, 1997.
  • Work for All or Mass Unemployment?: Computerised Technical Change in the Twenty-First Century, (co-author with Luc Soete), Pinter Pub Ltd, 1994.
  • The Economics of Hope: Essays on Technical Change, Economic Growth, and the Environment, Pinter Pub Ltd, 1992.
  • Technology Policy and Economic Performance: Lessons from Japan, Pinter Pub Ltd, 1987.
  • Unemployment and Technical Innovation: A Study of Long Waves and Economic Development, (co-author with John Clark and Luc Soete), Greenwood Press, 1982.

Works on Freeman

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Chris Freeman, 1921-2010". Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  2. ^ Jan Toporowski and Alan Freeman, Professor Christopher Freeman: Influential economist whose radical views gave him a healthy suspicion of capitalism The Independent, Friday 5 November 2010.
  3. ^ a b Kaldor, Mary (8 September 2010). "Christopher Freeman obituary". The Guardian. London.
  4. ^ "History of SPRU". History of SPRU. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Christopher Freeman". The Daily Telegraph. London. 7 September 2010.
  6. ^ Directorate for Scientific Affairs (1963). The Measurement of Scientific and Technical Activities - Proposed Standard Practice for Surveys of Research and Development. OECD. p. 6.
  7. ^ Cole, H. S. D.; Freeman, Chris; Jahoda, Marie; Pavitt, Keith L. R., eds. (1973). Thinking about the future: a critique of The limits to growth;. London: Chatto & Windus for Sussex University Press. ISBN 0-85621-018-8. OCLC 731665.
  8. ^ Lundvall, Bengt‐Åke (February 2007). "National Innovation Systems—Analytical Concept and Development Tool". Industry & Innovation. 14 (1): 95–119. doi:10.1080/13662710601130863. ISSN 1366-2716. S2CID 7663829.
  9. ^ Freeman, Christopher (1992). The economics of hope : essays on technical change, economic growth, and the environment. London: Pinter Publishers. ISBN 1-85567-083-6. OCLC 25713361.
  10. ^ Bell, Martin (26 November 2017). "Geoffrey Oldham obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  11. ^ "Honorary doctors at Linköping University". Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  12. ^ "Honorary graduates". Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  13. ^ "Earlier Bernal Prize Winners". 6 October 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  14. ^ "The International N. D. Kondratieff Foundation". Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
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