The Innovation Commons – Why it Exists, What it Does, Who it Benefits, and How

18 Pages Posted: 11 Jun 2015

See all articles by Darcy W E Allen

Darcy W E Allen

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technolog (RMIT University)

Jason Potts

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technolog (RMIT University)

Date Written: June 11, 2015

Abstract

We propose a new type of commons – an ‘innovation commons’ – that is an emergent institutional solution to ‘the innovation problem’ (defined as a collective action problem, not a market failure problem). In an innovation commons entrepreneurs pool innovation resources (i.e. inputs into the innovation process) under defined access and governance rules. Innovation requires entrepreneurship, which requires information about market opportunities. This information has interesting characteristics that lend itself to becoming a common pool resource: it is dispersed about the economy; difficult to value in its parts; and largely produced through experiment and experience. Moreover, this information resource fits poorly in institutions of markets or states because uncertainty renders them comparatively costly. We show how the innovation commons solves this problem as a temporary institution that forms around a particular new idea at the very beginning of an innovation trajectory where uncertainty is highest.

Keywords: Innovation, Innovation Problem, Entrepreneurship, Commons, Uncertainty

Suggested Citation

Allen, Darcy W E and Potts, Jason, The Innovation Commons – Why it Exists, What it Does, Who it Benefits, and How (June 11, 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2617141 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2617141

Darcy W E Allen (Contact Author)

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technolog (RMIT University) ( email )

Melbourne, 3000
Australia

Jason Potts

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technolog (RMIT University) ( email )

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