Institute News

“Revolutionizing Innovation: Users, Communities, and Open Innovation”, edited by Dietmar Harhoff (Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition) and Karim R. Lakhani (Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School), has now been published by MIT Press (https://mitpress.mit.edu).
 

The volume provides a comprehensive and multidisciplinary view of the field of user and open innovation, reflecting advances in the field over the last several decades. The book is dedicated to the economist Eric von Hippel who, since the 1980s, pioneered a groundbreaking view of innovation. Von Hippel shows that in many cases users of products and services create innovations and that subsequently producers take up these innovations and develop them further. Thus he counters the dominant paradigm which casts profit-seeking firms as the main drivers of technological and organizational change. In their research projects, von Hippel and colleagues found empirical evidence that flatly contradicted the producer-centered model of innovation. Large parts of the knowledge economy now routinely rely on user innovation, communities, and open innovation to solve important technological and organizational problems.
 

The contributors to the volume—including many colleagues of Eric von Hippel—offer both theoretical and empirical perspectives from such diverse fields as economics, the history of science and technology, law, management, and policy.
 

On 17 March 2016, 6:00 -8:00 p.m., Eric von Hippel himself will give a lecture about “Free Innovation and the Internet” at the new Munich Center for Internet Research (MCIR) of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities addressing the question how the internet modifies innovation. The presentation followed by a discussion can also be watched via live stream (http://www.mcir.badw.de/). The viewers may ask questions via live chat. See also: http://www.ip.mpg.de/en/the-institute/events/free-innovation-and-the-internet.html.

Press release

On February 17, 2016, the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation chaired by Prof. Dietmar Harhoff, Ph.D., Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation, has presented the ninth report on research, innovation and technological performance in Germany to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation - EFI) provides scientific advice to the German Federal Government and periodically delivers reports on research, innovation and technological productivity in Germany. A key task is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the German innovation system in an international comparison. Furthermore, Germany's perspectives as a location for research and innovation are evaluated on the basis of the latest research findings. EFI presents proposals for national research and innovation policy.

On February 25, 2015, the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation chaired by Prof. Dietmar Harhoff, Ph.D., Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation, has presented the eighth report on research, innovation and technological performance in Germany to the German chancellor Angela Merkel. The Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation - EFI) provides scientific advice to the German Federal Government and periodically delivers reports on research, innovation and technological productivity in Germany. A key task is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the German innovation system in an international comparison. Furthermore, Germany's perspectives as a location for research and innovation are evaluated on the basis of the latest research findings. EFI presents proposals for national research and innovation policy.

Participating researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition are Dietmar Harhoff, director at the institute and head of the economics department, and Frank Mueller-Langer, Senior Research Fellow.

Empirical studies to verify and refine theoretical models are increasingly important in economics. This is reflected in a rising number of empirical contributions to journals where the authors have collected their own research data or used external datasets. However, so far there have been few effective means to replicate this research data within the framework of the corresponding article in order to verify it, to make it available for repurposing or to use it to support scholarly debate.

The DFG-funded project EDaWax is intended to meet these challenges. One of the main objectives is the development of a publication-related data archive for journals.

During the first phase of the project, analysis systematically redacted the current challenges as manifested mainly by the lack of incentive structures for the replication of research results and the multiple use of data. At the same time, currently existing technical and organizational solutions within the context of economics journals and data archives were analysed and investigated with regard to their suitability for the requirements of the EDaWax project and with particular attention to the legal framework.

During the second phase of the project, for which the funding has now been granted, a metadata schema for the description and labelling of the data will be developed, based on the results of this analysis. A set of rules for the schema-compliant transformation of the descriptions and data will also be established.

Further information:

EDaWaX II - Enhancing the project's pilot application towards an integrated solution for managing research data in economics journals

ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften

EDaWaX - European Data Watch Extended

Scholars and practitioners interested in the economic, legal, political and managerial aspects of intellectual property rights are encouraged to attend the conference. The conference will explore how the IP systems in Europe can further growth and innovation.

EPIP is an international, independent, interdisciplinary, non-profit association of researchers that grew out of a network financed by the European Commission from 2003 to 2005. Dietmar Harhoff and Reto M. Hilty, directors at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, are members of the board. The objectives of the Association are to be a leading European platform for the analysis and discussion of intellectual property systems and intangible assets; to encourage research regarding economic, legal, social, political and historical aspects of intellectual property rights at national, European and international levels; and to contribute ideas, concepts and discussions that will promote innovation, productivity and growth in Europe and beyond.

 The conference will enable a small number of junior researchers from law and from economics to engage in an intensive, rigorous discussion of their own scholarly work. Several senior professors from law and from economics departments in Europe and the United States will provide feedback on the research projects.

 The Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation - EFI) provides scientific advice to the German Federal Government and periodically delivers reports on research, innovation and technological productivity in Germany. A key task is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the German innovation system in an international comparison. Furthermore, Germany's perspectives as a location for research and innovation are evaluated on the basis of the latest research findings. EFI presents proposals for national research and innovation policy.