Transfers of user process innovations to process equipment producers: A study of Dutch high-tech firms
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von Hippel_Transfers of User.PDF
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Author(s)
de Jong, Jeroen P. J.
von Hippel, Eric A.
Date Issued
June 2009
Journal
Research Policy
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
de Jong, Jeroen P.J., and Eric von Hippel. “Transfers of user process innovations to process equipment producers: A study of Dutch high-tech firms.” Research Policy 38.7 (2009): 1181-1191.
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
A detailed survey of 498 high technology small and medium-sized enterprises in the Netherlands shows process innovation by user firms to be common practice. Fifty-four percent of these firms reported developing entirely novel process equipment or software for their own use and/or modifying these, both at significant private expense. Twenty-five percent of the user innovations in our sample were transferred to commercializing producer firms. Many transfers were made without any direct compensation. Very importantly from the perspective of effective diffusion of user innovations, innovations with higher commercial potential – and more general appeal for users – are much more likely to be transferred to producers. The pattern we document of frequent innovation by individual user firms at substantial cost, followed in many cases by voluntary, no-charge information spillovers to producers, suggests that “open source economics” may be a general pattern in the economy.
Subjects
user innovation
SME innovation
innovation transfer
innovation diffusion
innovation measurement
free revealing
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.respol.2009.04.005
