Innovation is viewed as the driver of technological change and economic growth. It is also a risky and costly process for firms. Indeed, innovators face important technical risks and uncertainty regarding the outcome of the innovation process. Moreover, many companies that initiated great innovations eventually failed because they were not able to capture profit from their inventions.
In Part 1 of the course, we first provide an understanding of the innovation process, its determinants, and its consequences, both economy-wide and at the business level. In part 2, we focus on the institutional environment for the production of innovation. We pay particular attention to the intellectual property (IP) system. By offering a temporary monopoly over innovative ideas, IP rights (e.g., patents and trademarks) provide incentives for the production of innovation.
The aim of this course is to provide a series of tools for understanding the specificities of the innovation process and the strategies firms can undertake to profit from technological innovation. As innovation is the driver of technological change, which is needed to achieve sustainability, this course also provides tools to understand the process of reaching sustainability. Some of the questions addressed in the course include:
- What is the innovation process?
- What are the different types of innovation?
- What are the drivers of innovation?
- How do innovation, market structure, and competition affect each other?
- How can firms strategically create and capture value from innovation?
- What are the different ways governments can support innovation, and why do we need such policies?
- What is the purpose of IP rights?
- What are the different types of IP rights innovative actors have access to?
- What are patents, trademarks, copyrights, and designs, and what is the process to obtain them?
- What are the alternatives to intellectual property rights?
- What are the industry differences in terms of intellectual property?
- What are the strategic uses of intellectual property rights (e.g., patent races, litigation, enforcement, markets for technology...)?
In a nutshell, this course provides a toolbox to understand the drivers and consequences of innovation both at the macro and micro levels, and to learn about innovation strategies that help firms defend against competitors and increase their profits.
This course should be of particular interest to future managers, entrepreneurs, consultants, or policymakers, who must understand the role of innovation and IP rights, both in the economy and in business strategies.