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Book Cover
E-book
Author Hippel, Eric von, author.

Title Free innovation / Eric von Hippel
Published Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2017]
©2017

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 228 pages) : illustrations
Contents 1. Overview of free innovation -- 2. Evidence for free innovation -- 3. Viability zones for free innovation -- 4. Pioneering by free innovators -- 5. Diffusion shortfall in free innovation -- 6. Division of labor between free innovators and producers -- 7. Tightening the loop between free innovators and producers -- 8. The broad scope of free innovation -- 9. Personality traits of successful free innovators -- 10. Preserving free innovators' legal rights -- 11. Next steps for free innovation research and practice -- Appendix 1: Household sector innovation questionnaire -- Appendix 2: Modeling free innovation's impacts on markets and welfare -- References -- Index
Summary "This book integrates new theory and research findings into the framework of a 'free innovation paradigm.' Free innovation, as he defines it, involves innovations developed by consumers who are self-rewarded for their efforts, and who give their designs away 'for free.' It is an inherently simple grassroots innovation process, unencumbered by compensated transactions and intellectual property rights. Free innovation is already widespread in national economies and is steadily increasing in both scale and scope. Today, tens of millions of consumers are collectively spending tens of billions of dollars annually on innovation development. However, because free innovations are developed during consumers' unpaid, discretionary time and are given away rather than sold, their collective impact and value have until very recently been hidden from view. This has caused researchers, governments, and firms to focus too much on the Schumpeterian idea of innovation as a producer-dominated activity. Free innovation has both advantages and drawbacks. Because free innovators are self-rewarded by such factors as personal utility, learning, and fun, they often pioneer new areas before producers see commercial potential. At the same time, because they give away their innovations, free innovators generally have very little incentive to invest in diffusing what they create, which reduces the social value of their efforts. The best solution, von Hippel and his colleagues argue, is a division of labor between free innovators and producers, enabling each to do what they do best. The result will be both increased producer profits and increased social welfare -- a gain for all."--Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
SUBJECT Innovations fast
Subject Technological innovations -- Economic aspects
Inventors.
Diffusion of innovations.
Economics.
Entrepreneurship.
Innovations
Economics
Inventors
Technological innovations -- Economic aspects
Entrepreneurship
inventors.
economics.
entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship.
Inventions & inventors.
Economics
Entrepreneurship
Inventors
Technological innovations -- Economic aspects
Innovation
Gratisangebot
Öffentliches Gut
Eigentum
Anreiz
Soziale Wohlfahrt
Unternehmergewinn
Arbeitsteilung
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2016009390
ISBN 9780262335461
0262335468