It is now widely recognized that many of the central unresolved problems in economic policy, management and research turn on questions of knowledge. Increasingly, complex firms and agencies must ask, and answer, such difficult questions as: What is knowledge? Where is it? Who has it? Does the organization lose or gain competitive advantage or effectiveness by sharing knowledge? Where can we find the knowledge we need? How can we measure knowledge? In a knowledge-based economy, these queries are integral to the pursuits of every policy maker, analyst and strategist. Knowledge Management in The Innovation Process - a joint project between Statistics Canada and Program of Research on Innovation Management and Economy (PRIME) at the University of Ottawa - brings together economic, social, measurement and policy views on these critical issues. This project fits into an ongoing research program at Statistics Canada to develop meaningful indicators for science, technology and innovation in a technology-intensive economy. It also fits into the ongoing program at PRIME to better understand technology policy and innovation strategy. This book tells the story of the dynamic interplay between knowledge and innovation with an eye to developing tools and frameworks for managing knowledge for social and economic benefit.

Product Description: Recent research on the economics of innovation has acknowledged the importance of path dependence and networks in the evolution of economies and the diffusion of new techniques, products, and processes. These are topics pioneered by Paul A...read more

Product Description: The revolution in information technology transforms not only information and its uses but, more important, knowledge and the ways we generate and manage it. Knowledge is now seen as input, output, and capital, even if imperfectly accounted for or understood...read more

The economics of knowledge is a rapidly emerging subdiscipline of economics that has never before been given the comprehensive and cohesive treatment found in this book. Dominique Foray analyzes the deep conceptual and structural transformation of our economic activities that has led to a gradual shift to knowledge-intensive activities. This transformation is the result of the collision of a longstanding trend—the expansion of knowledge-based investments and activities—with a technological revolution that radically altered the production and transmission of knowledge and information. The book focuses on the dual nature of the economics of knowledge: its emergence as a discipline (which Foray calls "the economics of knowledge") and the historical development of a particular period in the growth and organization of economic activities ("the knowledge-based economy"). The book, which alternates between analysis of the economic transformation and examination of the tools and concepts of the discipline, begins by discussing "knowledge" as an economic good and the historical development of the knowledge-based economies. It then develops a conceptual framework for considering the issues raised. Topics considered in the remaining chapters include forms of knowledge production, codification and infusion, incentives and institutions for the efficient production of knowledge (including discussions of private markets and "open" sources), and knowledge management as a new organizational capability. Finally, the book addresses policy concerns suggested by the uneven development of knowledge across different sectors and by the need to find ways of reclaiming the public dimension of knowledge from an essentially privatized knowledge revolution.