Law, Innovation, and Collaboration in Networked Economy and Society

Abstract

Over the past twenty-five years, social science research in diverse fields has shifted its best explanations of innovation from (a) atomistic invention and development by individuals, corporate or natural, to networked learning; (b) market-based innovation focused on material self-interest to interaction between market and non-market practices under diverse motivations; and (c) property rights exclusively to interaction between property and commons. These shifts have profound implications for how we must think about law and innovation. Patents, copyrights, non-compete agreements and trade secret laws are all optimized for an increasingly obsolete worldview. Strong intellectual property impedes, rather than facilitates, innovation when we understand that knowledge flows in learning networks, mixing market and non-market models and motivations, and weaving commons with property are central to the innovation process.

Transformation of the System of Public Administration in a Network Economy

“…To assess the state of transformation of the public administration system in a network economy and identify trends in the information society in general, especially its technical and technological component, requires an integrated system of indicators based on data: state statistical accounting; on the results of special empirical studies of the market of information and communication technologies conducted by Ukrainian and foreign companies; taking into account the ratings of such international organizations as the UN, the EU, the World Bank, ITU, OECD, etc. (Benkler, 2017;Prokopenko & Omelyanenko, 2020).…”

The Republic of Letters and the Origins of Scientific Knowledge Commons

“…That had motivational dimensions as well as the epistemological implications just mentioned. In a distributed, open network such as this one, the problem of motivation typically is not that everyone is selfish, but rather than many people are selfish, many people are not, and most people exhibit a mix of self-regarding and other-regarding behaviors (Benkler 2017). Diversity is demonstrated not only from individual to individual but also from place to place and from time to time.…”

Thinking about the Commons

“…This was not due to me, but rather to scholars like Larry Lessig, Brett Frischmann, and especially Yochai Benkler. Benkler has argued that learning and innovation is generally better encouraged by "network learning" than by privatization (Benkler 2017). Others take this position as well.…”