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What drives innovation processes in modern biotechnology and open source software?
Maureen McKelvey
School of Technology Management & Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
Abstract
This article asks about the momentum of innovating activities, by comparing and contrasting innovation processes in modern biotechnology and open source software (OSS). Both are broad technological areas, which are developed by diverse types of actors and which are useful to produce various types of goods and services. As such, their economic value lies in influencing existing and new products, firms and industrial sectors. By examining what drives modern biotech and open source software, we can ask which innovation characteristics are more general and which are more specific. We can thereby move a bit closer to the aim of considering the general conditions of innovation, in different industrial sectors and different technologies.
Keywords
innovation conditions; industrial sectors; new products; new firms biotechnology; open source software; economic value
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