Researchers at SSE House of Innovation and Oxford University receives joint grant for the project: How to achieve market success with novel inventions

The research team will be led by Magnus Mähring (SSE) and Kristina Dahlin (Oxford U) and will also include researchers Holmer Kok (SSE), Heli Helanummi-Cole (Oxford U) and Ph.D. student Joseph Monroe (SSE). The research team has received 1 500 000 SEK from the Jan Wallander’s and Tom Hedelius’ Foundation and Tore Browaldh’s Foundation.

Research project in brief
Despite tremendous technological advances over the last century, the world needs novel inventions to tackle critical challenges like global warming, resistance to antibiotics, sustainability of cities, and threats to global food supply chains. However, in contrast to normal inventions, inventions high in novelty are less likely to become commercialized and meet with adoption and market success. Furthermore, their creators often fail to benefit from their inventions. Rather, when breakthroughs are successful, financial benefits tend to be reaped by follower firms.

A burning, unresolved question is: Under what conditions do inventors profit from their novel inventions? When novel inventions fail to be implemented, progress towards solving hard problems is slowed down. And while novel inventions are important in themselves, if creators fail to benefit from their novel inventions, it risks discouraging them as well as others from tackling hard problems.

Given novel inventions' high social returns, it is imperative to better understand how creators can enjoy their commercial returns. The answer to this question has important implications for policy making, commercialization, and strategic decisions in invention-oriented firms as well as to independent inventors. The aim of this research program is therefore to investigate factors that increase creators' chances to not only generate valuable technological and science-based solutions to problems, but also bring these solutions to market and enjoy market success.

For more information regarding this research project, please contact professor Magnus Mähring.