Eric von Hippel, MIT Sloan School of Management
Eric von Hippel, MIT Sloan School of Management
CANCELLED - To be rescheduled for a later date
CANCELLED - To be rescheduled for a later date
Free innovation is a grassroots innovation process in which self-rewarded household sector innovators develop and give away valuable innovations “for free.” Today, as national surveys document, hundreds of millions of people engage in free innovation around the world. Prof. von Hippel will discuss how this growing phenomenon can be understood in terms of a new Free Innovation Paradigm. Unlike producer innovators, free innovators can disregard the extent of the market, and so are often innovation pioneers. Free innovation poses a steadily stronger rival and complement to traditional Schumpeterian producer innovation. Free innovators' activities also raise social welfare. The implications of Free Innovation for producers and for society will be discussed.
Prof. von Hippel is a visiting scholar with the TOM Unit this year, exploring emerging innovation processes and related economic and innovation policy issues.