User innovation: a novel framework for studying animal innovation within a comparative context
Abstract Much work has been dedicated to defining and describing animal innovation. Despite this, efforts to compare human and animal innovation have been hindered by perceived fundamental differences between how, and why, humans and animals innovate. Furthermore, there is not a usefu...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Berlin Heidelberg
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131364 |
| _version_ | 1811082938502086656 |
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| author | Hopper, Lydia M Torrance, Andrew W |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management Hopper, Lydia M Torrance, Andrew W |
| author_sort | Hopper, Lydia M |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Abstract
Much work has been dedicated to defining and describing animal innovation. Despite this, efforts to compare human and animal innovation have been hindered by perceived fundamental differences between how, and why, humans and animals innovate. Furthermore, there is not a useful framework for comparisons across different taxa. Here, we provide an overview of the current understanding of human ‘user’ innovation, provide some examples of user innovation, and highlight the parallels between animal innovation and user innovation by humans. User innovation, put simply, is the process by which people invent to satisfy their own needs, not necessarily with the aim of distributing their invention, or marketing it for profit. Thus, it is much more closely aligned to the manner in which nonhuman animals innovate. Our intention is that this discussion will help to re-frame how we consider animal innovation and foster more direct comparisons between human and animal innovation, while propagating new avenues for research, both experimental and observational. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:13:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/131364 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:13:10Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1313642023-02-22T17:27:57Z User innovation: a novel framework for studying animal innovation within a comparative context Hopper, Lydia M Torrance, Andrew W Sloan School of Management Abstract Much work has been dedicated to defining and describing animal innovation. Despite this, efforts to compare human and animal innovation have been hindered by perceived fundamental differences between how, and why, humans and animals innovate. Furthermore, there is not a useful framework for comparisons across different taxa. Here, we provide an overview of the current understanding of human ‘user’ innovation, provide some examples of user innovation, and highlight the parallels between animal innovation and user innovation by humans. User innovation, put simply, is the process by which people invent to satisfy their own needs, not necessarily with the aim of distributing their invention, or marketing it for profit. Thus, it is much more closely aligned to the manner in which nonhuman animals innovate. Our intention is that this discussion will help to re-frame how we consider animal innovation and foster more direct comparisons between human and animal innovation, while propagating new avenues for research, both experimental and observational. 2021-09-20T17:16:44Z 2021-09-20T17:16:44Z 2019-09-04 2020-09-24T21:01:56Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131364 en https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-019-01303-z 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. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature application/pdf Springer Berlin Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
| spellingShingle | Hopper, Lydia M Torrance, Andrew W User innovation: a novel framework for studying animal innovation within a comparative context |
| title | User innovation: a novel framework for studying animal innovation within a comparative context |
| title_full | User innovation: a novel framework for studying animal innovation within a comparative context |
| title_fullStr | User innovation: a novel framework for studying animal innovation within a comparative context |
| title_full_unstemmed | User innovation: a novel framework for studying animal innovation within a comparative context |
| title_short | User innovation: a novel framework for studying animal innovation within a comparative context |
| title_sort | user innovation a novel framework for studying animal innovation within a comparative context |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131364 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hopperlydiam userinnovationanovelframeworkforstudyinganimalinnovationwithinacomparativecontext AT torranceandreww userinnovationanovelframeworkforstudyinganimalinnovationwithinacomparativecontext |