Economics, Innovation, and Public Value by Mariana Mazzucato

Prof. Mariana Mazzucato is a Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at UCL and founding Director of its Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). She is best known for The Entrepreneurial State and Mission Economy, widely cited by policymakers globally.

Her work focuses on how public and private actors can govern technological change, covering areas like algorithmic surveillance, AI, and data infrastructure value. Her research is shaping digital policy dialogue in forums like the G20 and WHO, with frameworks that many in crypto draw on when discussing public value, data governance, and decentralization.

Mazzucato has received international awards including the John von Neumann Award and serves on advisory councils for the WHO, UN, and several governments. Her financial world is academia-based, but her influence on mission-driven innovation resonates with crypto’s public-good narratives, particularly in how decentralized technologies might be shaped in service of collective value.