Coordinators: Ioanna Kastelli
National Technical University of Athens, Greece
iokast@chemeng.ntua.gr
Lukasz Mamica
Kraków University of Economics, Poland
mamical@uek.krakow.pl

After a period where industrial policy has been considered with scepticism or even strong criticism, it is now regaining legitimacy (even in Brussels). Discussions on the necessity and possibility of industrial policy draw upon arguments of development and evolutionary economics. Following these arguments the need for industrial policy especially for countries encountering convergence problems, stems from the non automatic nature of the catching-up process, the recognition that economic systems are complex, dynamic and differentiating according to their institutional and structural characteristics and the existence of systemic failures.

In the context of globalisation and delocalisation of productive activities, industrial policy has to be considered as a vision and strategy of industrial development with important significance for employment and sustainability. As industrial development is determined by many factors, complex relations and interdependencies, we need a holistic and dynamic approach to industrial policy, meaning that we need to design a policy that takes into account the whole economic system in which industry is a component part considering that all parts co-evolve.

We do not reduce industry to manufacturing but consider industry as all productive sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing and services. In this context we are also interested in the issue of developing specific industrial activities that may contribute significantly to growth, job creation and internationalization in specific socio-economic contexts (such as e.g. creative, low tech industries, KIBS etc.).