Perspectives on Innovation

Innovation has become a major field of study in economics, management, sociology, science and technology, and history. Case studies, empirical models, appreciative analyses and formal theories abound. However, after several decades of study on innovation, and so many different types of contribution, there are still many phenomena we know very little about. The debate on innovation still has much to deliver; important questions remain unanswered and many problems require solution. Bringing together many leading figures in the field, this collection aims to address these concerns by offering detailed analyses of topics that are crucial for understanding innovation. In addition, it offers discussions of topics that researchers are just beginning to explore and of topics that continue to defy our efforts to understand and systematise. This important and wide-ranging collection will be essential reading for academic researchers and graduate students who wish to gain a broad overview of frontier-research in innovation.

Stefano Brusoni is Associate Professor of Applied Economics at Bocconi University, Milan. He is Deputy Director of CESPRI and coordinator of EMIT (MSc in Economics of Innovation and Technology). He obtained his PhD from the University of Sussex (UK) in 2002. His research interests include the division and coordination of innovative labour, the organizational implications of modular design strategies, and the analysis of knowledge production and distribution processes within and across firms. He has published his work in leading international journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, Research Policy, Organization Studies, Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Industrial and Corporate Change, the Journal of Evolutionary Economics and the Journal of Management Studies.

Franco Malerba is Professor of Industrial Economics and Director of CESPRI at Bocconi University, Milan.