User innovation and the market(Article)(Open Access)
- aUNU-MERIT, Keizer Karelplein 19, 6211 TC Maastricht, Netherlands
- bTshwane University of Technology, Institute for Economic Research on Innovation, 159 Skinner Street, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
Abstract
This paper proposes a way of including in official statistics consumers as user innovators who modify or develop products for their own use. The issue addressed is the role of the market in the definition of innovation in the OECD/Eurostat Oslo Manual and the exclusion by that definition of consumers who modify or develop products and then freely reveal the knowledge thus gained to others. A change to the definition, which also has implications for the measurement of innovation in the public sector, is proposed. The policy implications of user innovation by consumers and by firms are considered along with the importance of including consumer user innovation in official statistics. The paper ends with a programme for future work. © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
Indexed keywords
| GEOBASE Subject Index: | innovationOECDpublic sector |
|---|---|
Funding details
| Funding sponsor | Funding number | Acronym |
|---|---|---|
| Tekes | ||
| Beskæftigelsesministeriet |
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1
In Finland, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES), supported by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy (Ministry of Employment and the Economy 2010), is launching surveys of consumers to identify the extent to which they develop or modify consumer products. The original discussion that led to this paper took place in Finland when it became clear that much of what is claimed as user innovation is ruled out by the definition of innovation used to support the gathering, interpretation and diffusion of data for official statistics.
- ISSN: 03023427
- Source Type: Journal
- Original language: English
- DOI: 10.1093/scipol/scs005
- Document Type: Article
- Publisher: Oxford University Press
Gault, F.; UNU-MERIT, Keizer Karelplein 19, Netherlands;
© Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
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