Breakthrough innovations in aircraft and the intellectual property system, 1900-1975

David Mowery
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David Mowery: Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley, USA

No 25, WIPO Economic Research Working Papers from World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division

Abstract: Modern commercial aircraft are complex products that incorporate innovations in technologies ranging from advanced materials to software and electronics. Although commercial aircraft assuredly qualify as a transformative innovation, in fact today's commercial aircraft are the result of a process of incremental innovation and improvement that dates back more than a century. A great many of these improvements and incremental innovations originated from government-supported R&D programs sponsored by the military services or government research laboratories. The adoption of commercial-aircraft innovations within many industrial economies, including the United States, also has been influenced by government regulation of air transportation. This paper provides a historical characterization of the innovation and record of technical progress in US commercial aircraft during the 1900-1975 period. It identifies the sources of support for innovation and technological adoption, and examines the origins and impacts of 'breakthrough innovations' on the overall evolution of the global commercial aircraft industry. The paper also assesses the role of patents in these important innovations.

Keywords: Innovation; airplane; intellectual property (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N7 O3 O34 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 69 pages
Date: 2015-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-ino, nep-ipr, nep-pr~, nep-sbm and nep-tid
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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