FinGeo Annual Lecture at the RSA Conference 2026

The FinGeo Annual Lecture will take place during the Regional Studies Association (RSA) Annual Conference 2026, held in Gothenburg, Sweden, in June 2026.

📅 Date and Time: Wednesday, 17 June 2026, 16:00–18:00 (CEST)📍 Location: SEB Salen, School of Business, Economics and Law, Vasagatan 1, Gothenburg.

As one of FinGeo’s flagship activities, the Annual Lecture brings together members of the network and the wider academic community to engage with cutting-edge debates and research in financial geography.

Session OrganiserFranziska Sohns (Anglia Ruskin University, UK)

Session Description

This session is the Annual FinGeo–RSA Lecture, celebrating the ongoing collaboration between the Global Network on Financial Geography (FinGeo) and the Regional Studies Association (RSA), including their co-sponsorship of the journal Finance and Space. The lecture aims to bring together scholars interested in the financial, technological, and spatial dimensions of contemporary economic transformation.

The invited speaker is Professor Rick Carew, Adjunct Professor of Finance & Economics at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business. His lecture will focus on US–China technology competition and its implications for innovation clusters, venture capital, and the geography of Artificial Intelligence.

Drawing on his academic work, policy engagement, and extensive professional experience as a former senior editor and correspondent for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong and China, Professor Carew will examine how state policy, Big Tech firms, and financial systems have shaped the rapid concentration of AI innovation in the United States and China.

The lecture will explore the role of venture capital and corporate balance sheets in fostering, scaling, or absorbing innovation, as well as the spatial dynamics of data centres, startup ecosystems, and technology clusters. It will also reflect on what these developments imply for other regions, particularly Europe, and what conditions might enable new challengers to emerge in the global AI landscape.

FinGeo members and conference participants are warmly invited to attend this special session.