Free Innovation Audiobook (Free)

Within this book, Eric von Hippel, author of the influential Democratizing Innovation, integrates new theory and research findings into the framework of the “free innovation paradigm.” Free innovation, as he defines it, involves innovations developed by consumers who are self-rewarded because of their initiatives, and who give their designs apart “free of charge.” It is an inherently basic grassroots innovation procedure, unencumbered by compensated transactions and intellectual house rights. Free innovation is normally about Free of charge Innovation already common in national economies and is steadily raising in both scale and range. Today, tens of an incredible number of consumers are collectively spending tens of billions of dollars each year on innovation development. However, because free of charge innovations are developed during consumers’ unpaid, discretionary period and are provided away rather than sold, their collective effect and value have got until very been recently hidden from watch. This has caused researchers, governments, and firms to focus too much around the Schumpeterian notion of innovation being a producer-dominated activity. Free innovation offers both advantages and drawbacks. Because free of charge innovators are self-rewarded by such factors as personal energy, learning, and fun, they often times pioneer brand-new areas before suppliers see commercial potential. At exactly the same time, because they give away their innovations, free of charge innovators generally have very little motivation to invest in diffusing what they create, which decreases the social value of their efforts. The best alternative, von Hippel and his co-workers argue, can be a division of labor between free innovators and companies, enabling each to do what they do best. The effect will end up being both increased producer profits and increased interpersonal welfare – an increase for all.