Working Paper #2011-009
User innovation and the market
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 the
definition of consumers who modify or develop products and then freely
reveal the knowledge gained to others. A modest proposal is made for a
change to the definition which also has implications for the measurement
of innovation in the public sector. 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.
- Keywords
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- User innovation
- consumer innovation
- public sector innovation
- official statistics
- JEL codes
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- H00
- O33
Cite this as
APA 7th ed.Gault, F. (2011). User innovation and the market (UNU-MERIT Working Paper No. 2011-009). UNU-MERIT. https://unu-merit.nl/publications/working-papers/abstract/?id=4171