This blog summarises and catalogues interesting research in the field of the economics of innovation (and other topics) so I don’t forget it, and other public policy researchers can easily find and understand the key ideas in the field.

Why this blog?

I forget about 90% of what I read.

I manage to retain a lot more of what I read if I read it twice, and more again if I make notes on it.

So when I started my doctorate in 2023, I knew I’d need some sort of system to retain what I was reading in the literature. This would mean I would have a ready-made set of summaries of the various seminal works in my field when it came time to prepare my research proposal and thesis. Hence this blog is a repository of all the articles, chapters and books concerning the economics of innovation I am reading as part of the doctorate.

What topics does it summarise?

To see what I am reading in the field of economics of innovation, please see the reading list I am working my way through here (DPhil Reading list).

Quickly I found myself collecting and posting notes on other things that interested me as well. So this blog has become an eclectic repository of summaries not only on the economics of innovation in Australia, but also other interests like energy, resources, business transformation, mental health, public policy, philosophy and the great works. I use hashtags on each blog post to make them more searchable.

How do I prepare these summaries?

I prepare the summaries by reading the text and copy+pasting excerpts of ideas that particularly interest me into a separate document, then reading summaries of the work (Blinkist is great) to make sure I’ve captured all the main ideas. Then I get ChatGPT to provide a summary that I can then edit and upload to the blog. This means I have been exposed to the content 3-4 times before I finalise the blog posts, improving my own retention, and there is a record of the ideas discussed for me to reference it quickly if I need it.

What will the summaries be used for?

I’ll mainly use the entries to this blog as a repository of information for my thesis, as well as any articles, speeches or presentations that I make along the way. If I think they are interesting, I will upload my own work here too and send out a notification to any subscribers.

I am always happy to hear about any ways that I can improve this for readers in the comments section, so please share your views below.

Richard Wilson, Dec 2023