Free Innovation / Eric von Hippel.

• Author: Hippel, Eric von.
• Place / Publishing House: Cambridge, MA : : MIT Press,, 2016.; ©2016.
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 PDF (xi, 228 pages) :; illustrations.
• Notes: Previously issued in print: 2016.

"In this book, Eric von Hippel, author of the influential Democratizing Innovation, 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."

Table of Contents

Introducing free innovation -- Scale and self-rewarding nature of free innovation -- Viability of individual and collaborative free innovation -- Innovation pioneering by free innovators -- Diffusion shortfall in free innovation -- Free and producer paradigm interactions -- Competition for free innovator resources -- Large scope of free innovation -- Factors promoting free innovator success -- Preserving free innovatorsa' strong legal rights -- Next steps in free innovation research, policy, and practice -- Appendix 1: Household sector innovation survey questionnaire -- Appendix 2: Model of the user innovation paradigm : impacts on markets and welfare -- References -- Index.