Innovation Policy for the Commons

Abstract

Chapter 8 examines the implications of the private-ordering institutional perspective on the origin of innovation for innovation policy. It addresses the question of what innovation policy should look like based on the theory of innovation commons, proposing an institutional framework of new innovation policy coming from civil society as much as from government. It examines how the quality of the innovation commons shapes the prospects of an innovation trajectory. It is critical of innovation policy that ignores institutional context, offering policy guidance based on institutional design principles, or a framework of “rules as policy.” The chapter views the fundamental policy problem as addressing discovery failure. It develops the comparative institutional approach to innovation policy using the institutional possibility frontier approach.