Nonetheless, he believes the Old Continent has plenty to offer in this new frontier. “I am a fighting optimist,” says Aghion, who won the prize last year for economics together with fellow economists Joel Mokyr and Peter Howitt.
Despite just being shy of his seventh decade, 2025 Nobel laureate Philippe Aghion is doubling down on his stance that competition is a driving force of innovation, urging Europe to embrace the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution and championing policy reform to encourage AI development and adoption in the region.
The way he sees it, one way for countries to grow is to innovate at the technological frontier or do breakthrough innovation. When asked who is winning this race to translate innovation into growth, Aghion says: “The US is dominant, China is rising, and Europe is lagging behind.”
