Can Innovation Keep Driving Economic Growth?

Are we gradually running out of ideas or does innovation continually create new possibilities?

On September 14, 2026, economist and 2025 Nobel laureate Philippe Aghion addressed this question at HEC Paris in an HEC Talk on innovation, economic growth and technological change. Introduced by HEC Paris Professor Antonin Bergeaud, Aghion revisited the theory of creative destruction he developed with Peter Howitt and connected it to new research on how ideas emerge, mature and give way to new fields.

His central argument challenges the idea that innovation is destined to run out of steam. Within an individual technology, product category or research topic, progress may indeed become increasingly difficult. But new fields and combinations of ideas can continually emerge, effectively “resetting” the innovation process.

From the evolution of economic research to the rise of artificial intelligence, Aghion explores what keeps this process moving and what can stop it. His conclusion shifts the question away from whether ideas themselves are becoming scarce toward the institutions that allow ideas to flourish: education, research, competition and policies that give new innovators room to emerge.

The conference concluded with HEC Paris conferring an honorary doctorate on Philippe Aghion in recognition of his contributions to the study of economic growth, innovation, entrepreneurship and creative destruction.

Also read: Philippe Aghion: "My worry is not on the technology. My worry is on the institutions."