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Innovation through exaptation and its determinants: The role of technological complexity, analogy making & patent scope

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  • Mastrogiorgio, Mariano
  • Gilsing, Victor

Abstract

The concept of exaptation has been recently introduced in innovation studies. Previous empirical studies have only focused on the organization-level conditions of exaptation. This paper fills the gaps by focusing on invention and inventor-level conditions such as technological complexity, inventors’ analogical ability, and patent scope. To test our hypotheses, we analyse a large sample of U.S. patents obtained from the USPTO and NBER databases. Based on our findings, we discuss a number of implications of exaptation for the management of innovation as well as for policy makers.

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  • Mastrogiorgio, Mariano & Gilsing, Victor, 2016. "Innovation through exaptation and its determinants: The role of technological complexity, analogy making & patent scope," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 1419-1435.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:45:y:2016:i:7:p:1419-1435
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2016.04.003
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