Transfers of user process innovations to process equipment producers: A study of Dutch high-tech firms
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, bo...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Elsevier
2010
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52691 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7235-1032 |
| _version_ | 1826188461563969536 |
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| author | de Jong, Jeroen P. J. von Hippel, Eric A. |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management de Jong, Jeroen P. J. von Hippel, Eric A. |
| author_sort | de Jong, Jeroen P. J. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:00:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/52691 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:00:00Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/526912022-09-23T10:11:16Z Transfers of user process innovations to process equipment producers: A study of Dutch high-tech firms de Jong, Jeroen P. J. von Hippel, Eric A. Sloan School of Management von Hippel, Eric A. von Hippel, Eric A. user innovation SME innovation innovation transfer innovation diffusion innovation measurement free revealing 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. 2010-03-17T20:35:54Z 2010-03-17T20:35:54Z 2009-06 2009-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/SubmittedJournalArticle 0048-7333 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52691 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. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7235-1032 en_US http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.respol.2009.04.005 Research Policy 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. application/pdf Elsevier Eric von Hippel |
| spellingShingle | user innovation SME innovation innovation transfer innovation diffusion innovation measurement free revealing de Jong, Jeroen P. J. von Hippel, Eric A. Transfers of user process innovations to process equipment producers: A study of Dutch high-tech firms |
| title | Transfers of user process innovations to process equipment producers: A study of Dutch high-tech firms |
| title_full | Transfers of user process innovations to process equipment producers: A study of Dutch high-tech firms |
| title_fullStr | Transfers of user process innovations to process equipment producers: A study of Dutch high-tech firms |
| title_full_unstemmed | Transfers of user process innovations to process equipment producers: A study of Dutch high-tech firms |
| title_short | Transfers of user process innovations to process equipment producers: A study of Dutch high-tech firms |
| title_sort | transfers of user process innovations to process equipment producers a study of dutch high tech firms |
| topic | user innovation SME innovation innovation transfer innovation diffusion innovation measurement free revealing |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52691 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7235-1032 |
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