The research unit on Technology, Firms and Industrial Dynamics (TFID) is housed within the Open University Centre for Economic Research (CfER), in the Faculty of Social Sciences. TFID is made up of economists who are interested in the study of the economics of innovation, with a focus on the institutional setting in which innovation and economic change take place. Members of TFID carry out research in four broad areas:

• Technological change and industry dynamics. This research area covers the study of the impact of innovation on various aspects of industrial change, including market structure, productivity, industry demographics and firm growth. It also covers the analysis of industry and technology life-cycles, the relationship between finance and innovation, the study of market dynamics in the new economy and employment effects of innovation in industries and firms.
• Technology, globalisation and growth. This area includes various contributions on the links between innovation, growth, trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). A strand of research focuses on the role of technology transfer, trade and FDI on economic development. Another line of research examines the macroeconomic effects of innovation and globalisation on growth and employment, taking into account the existence of feedback mechanisms within the economy.
• Innovation and technology policy. This area focuses on various aspects of the innovation process and on the impact of policy on the creation of technological competencies. Much of the research in this area is made up of in-depth studies of innovation in selected industrial sectors/technologies, such as automobiles, software and biotechnology, including case studies of technical change in organisations. Another important line of research focuses on the measurement of technological activities, using both theoretical and empirical analysis. Finally, research is carried out on aspects of technology policy from a 'systems of innovation' perspective.
• Innovation in genomics. A recent important extension of TFID research in innovation in biotechnology is its participation in INNOGEN, the new ESRC Centre for Social and Economic Research on Innovations in Genomics. INNOGEN, co-hosted by the University of Edinburgh and the Open University, received a grant of Euros 3.2 million to develop an interdisciplinary analysis of the interactions among scientists, industry, private interest groups, policy makers and regulators in genomic-related areas of innovation. The TFID group of researchers forms INNOGEN's core input in the area of economics of innovation. Research plans in the centre include the study of the evolution of the knowledge base in genomics, the analysis of the genomics system of innovation, and the structure and the dynamics of genomic-related industries (pharmaceuticals, health care, food and agro-biotechnology).
  Research in TFID is carried out using a variety of methods, including non-linear mathematics, computer simulations, time-series, cross section and panel data econometrics, and qualitative methods.