Following societal and policy pressures for responsible innovation, innovators are more and more expected to consider the broader socio-ethical context of their work, and more importantly, to integrate such considerations into their daily practices. This may require the involvement of 'outsiders' in innovation trajectories, including e.g. societal and governmental actors. However, methods on ho...

SMEs rarely possess formal intellectual property (IP) in the sense of patents, etc. Broadly speaking, SMEs reap relatively short-term Schumpeterian profits by means of incremental innovation, where managing internal knowledge networks for ‘mutual inspiration’ can give rise to significant competitive advantages. Unfortunately estimates as to the best timing, how much benefit could be reaped and ...

Innovation and social information use are influenced by individual characteristics, and are important for the creation and transmission of novel behavioral patterns. Here, we investigated which individual factors predict innovation rates and social transmission of information in a comparative study with identically reared common ravens (Corvus corax) and carrion crows (Corvus corone corone; Cor...

Strong interaction of innovative actors within a local network is commonly said to increase the region-specific knowledge-stock, leading to a comparative advantage. However, it might also lead to a lock-in situation, if local trajectories are directed towards inferior solutions. Accordingly, it is argued that successful clusters are characterised by the existence of gatekeepers, i.e. actors tha...

We examine a mechanism by which bundling may inefficiently deter entry into the market. The model considers an incumbent monopolist in two complementary components that faces a series of entry attempts by rivals. It is shown that the incumbent can practice bundling to buttress its monopoly position by keeping specialist innovators out of the market. Bundling prevents specialist rivals from coor...

This paper investigates the determinants of technological diversification among UK’s small serial innovators (SSIs). Using a longitudinal study of 339 UK-based small businesses accounting for almost 7000 patents between 1990 and 2006, this study constitutes the first empirical examination of technological diversification among SMEs in the literature. Results demonstrate that technological diver...

We have investigated two large Japanese firms with their patent data, technological histories and product sales data of over 30 years especially in terms of intra-firm technology diversification and interactions between multiple technological trajectories. Patent data showed the process of emergencies of technological trajectories and interactions (cross-fertilization) between them quantitative...

When innovation is cumulative, early patentees can hold up later innovators. Under complete information, licensing before R&D avoids holdup. But when development costs are private information, ex ante licensing may only occur in regimes with sub-optimal patent policy.