A Triple Helix Model of Medical Innovation: Supply, Demand, and Technological Capabilities in terms of Medical Subject Headings

Alexander Petersen, Daniele Rotolo and Loet Leydesdor
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Alexander Petersen: Laboratory for the Analysis of Complex Economic Systems, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca, Italy
Loet Leydesdor: Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

SPRU Working Paper Series from SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School

Abstract: We develop a model of innovation that enables us to trace the interplay among three key dimensions of the innovation process: (i) demand of and (ii) supply for innovation, and (iii) technological capabil- ities available to generate innovation in the forms of products, processes, and services. Building on triple helix research, we use entropy statistics to elaborate an indicator of mutual information among these dimensions that can provide indication of reduction of uncertainty. To do so, we focus on the medical context, where uncertainty poses signi cant challenges to the governance of innovation. We use the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of MEDLINE/PubMed to identify publications classi ed within the categories \Diseases" (C), \Drugs and Chemicals" (D), \Analytic, Diagnostic, and Ther- apeutic Techniques and Equipment" (E) and use these as knowledge representations of demand, supply, and technological capabilities, respectively. Three case-studies of medical research areas are used as representative 'entry perspectives' of the medical innovation process. These are: (i) human papilloma virus, (ii) RNA interference, and (iii) magnetic resonance imaging. We nd statistically signi cant periods of synergy among demand, supply, and technological capabilities (C??D??E) that point to three-dimensional interactions as a fundamental perspective for the understanding and gov- ernance of the uncertainty associated with medical innovation. Among the pairwise con gurations in these contexts, the demand-technological capabilities (C??E) provided the strongest link, followed by the supply-demand (D ?? C) and the supply-technological capabilities (D ?? E) channels.

Keywords: triple helix; Medical Subject Headings; MEDLINE/PubMed; synergy; innovation; knowledge order; mutual information; dynamic vocabulary; redundancy. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O32 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-hea, nep-ino and nep-tid
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

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Journal Article: A triple helix model of medical innovation: Supply, demand, and technological capabilities in terms of Medical Subject Headings (2016)
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