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Free revealing and the private‐collective model for innovation incentives
Author(s) -
Von Hippel Eric,
Von Krogh Georg
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
randd management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.253
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1467-9310
pISSN - 0033-6807
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9310.2006.00435.x
Subject(s) - incentive , free riding , business , private information retrieval , industrial organization , knowledge management , open innovation , marketing , economics , microeconomics , computer science , computer security
A central tenant of open innovation is free revealing of the detailed workings of novel products and services, so that others may use them, learn from them, and perhaps improve them as well. We explain that innovators frequently do freely reveal proprietary information and knowledge regarding both information‐based products and physical products they have developed. We explain why free revealing can make good economic sense for innovators and for society as well. The article develops the case for free revealing in terms of a ‘private collective’ model of innovation incentives.