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From en.swpat.org

Eric Von Hippel is a professor specialised in innovation, at MIT, USA.

Von Hippel gave a presentation at Boston swpat conference 2006 videos.

He wrote a paper with Carliss Y. Baldwin who's abstract reads:

In this paper we assess the economic viability of innovation by producers relative to two increasingly important alternative models: innovations by single user individuals or firms, and open collaborative innovation projects. We analyze the design costs and architectures and communication costs associated with each model. We conclude that innovation by individual users and also open collaborative innovation increasingly compete with - and may displace – producer innovation in many parts of the economy. We argue that a transition from producer innovation to open single user and open collaborative innovation is desirable in terms of social welfare, and so worthy of support by policymakers.

The paper is titled Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation.

[edit] External links

• Home page
• Von Hippel's two books are downloadable from his site:
  • Democratizing Innovation (2005)
  • The Sources of Innovation (1988)
• What If The Very Theory That Underlies Why We Need Patents Is Wrong?, 15 Apr 2010, Techdirt (about the above mentioned "Paradigm Shift" paper)