The Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth is issuing a call for original research papers and proposals to be presented at a Research Roundtable Conference on Technology Standards and Innovation. The conference will be held at the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, IL on Thursday, February 7, 2013 and Friday February 8, 2013.

The theme of the conference is on market-based approaches to standard setting. The conference will explore the economic benefits and costs of intellectual property (IP) protections in the context of standards. The conference will focus on the positive economics of incentives for invention and incentives for innovation and commercialization rather than the more standard normative economics calling for regulation of technology transfer contracts. The conference will focus on generating new and original scholarship in the following areas.

• Benefits and costs of technology standards in a market equilibrium setting
• Market coordination of technology adoption by inventors, innovators, investors, consumers
• Coordination by market participants through Standard Setting Organizations (SSOs)
• Implications of technology standards for invention incentives
• Implications of technology standards for innovation (commercialization of technology)
• Implications of technology standards for investment in application and development of technology
• Technology standards and antitrust policy
• Technology standards, licensing, and patents

Proposals and papers for the conference should be submitted to Susie Caruso at the following email address: editjems@kellogg.northwestern.edu.

Conference Papers Submission Deadline: Proposals for the conference and edited volume should be submitted to Susie Caruso at the following email address: editjems@kellogg.northwestern.edu by August 10, 2012. Notification Deadline:  Authors will be notified of decisions by September 10.

The Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth at Northwestern University School of Law was established in 2006 to research how government regulation and interpretation of laws and regulations by the courts affect business and economic growth.  Information on the Searle Center’s activities may be found at: www.law.northwestern.edu/searlecenter.