Technical systems and cross-sector knowledge diffusion: an illustration with drones

François-Xavier Meunier () and Renaud Bellais ()
Additional contact information
François-Xavier Meunier: UEA - Unité d'Économie Appliquée - ENSTA Paris - École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris
Renaud Bellais: ENSTA Bretagne_SHS - Département Sciences Humaines et Sociales ENSTA Bretagne - ENSTA Bretagne - École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées Bretagne, CESICE - Centre d'études sur la sécurité internationale et les coopérations européennes - IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - UGA [2016-2019] - Université Grenoble Alpes [2016-2019]

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: If cumulativeness is one feature of knowledge as economic good [Foray, D. 2006. The Economics of Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press], one may wonder why knowledge produced in a given sector does not result in several applications thorough the whole economy. Therefore it is important to understand the dynamics of knowledge that helps a given piece of knowledge to overcome sectorial silos and become more transversal. Here, focusing on Drones, patents analysis reveals how different technical systems use or do not use the same knowledge to solve identical issues or needs. This paper offers three major advantages. First, it allows distinguishing between component knowledge linked with technological bricks and architectural knowledge linked with system integration. Second, it opens new possibilities to measure the transversality of knowledge or its duality (beyond the debates in defense economics). And finally, it offers the opportunity to empirically analyse duality using patent databases.

Keywords: Patent; Duality; Capabilities; Coherence; Drones; Technical system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, 2019, 31 (4), pp.433-446. ⟨10.1080/09537325.2018.1518522⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01888706

DOI: 10.1080/09537325.2018.1518522

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().