New Things Under the Sun

As a source of data for studying innovation, patents are really seductive. There’s nothing else quite like them. And at first glance, one of the most appealing things patents is that they cite each other. That means, patents might help us understand how knowledge spills over from one application to another, which is one of the most distinctive things about innovation, as compared to other economic...

Suppose you set loose a bunch of scientists on the same question, letting each use their best judgment on the method to answer a question. Would you expect them to come to the same conclusions? Unfortunately, the truth is the state of our “methodological technology” just isn’t there yet. There remains a core of unresolvable uncertainty and randomness in the best of circumstances. Science isn’t cer...

When a scientist or inventor migrates, they take their knowledge with them. And in the right environment, that knowledge can act as the seed of something much larger than an individual can accomplish. This is an audio read through of the (initial draft of the) article Importing Knowledge , published on New Things Under the Sun . Articles Mentioned: Moser, Petra, Alessandra Voena, and Fabian Waldin...

Innovation disproportionately happens in cities. What is it about packing people together that makes them so innovative? This is an audio read through of the (initial version of the) article Urban Social Infrastructure and Innovation , published on New Things Under the Sun . Articles mentioned: Carlino, Gerald A., Satyajit Chatterjee, and Robert M. Hunt. 2007. Urban density and the rate of inventi...

Maybe one of the most important functions of cities is to introduce us to new people. Being close seems to be very important for initiating and consolidating new relationships, but once those relationships are formed it’s no longer so important that you stay physically close - at least from the perspective of facilitating innovation. This podcast is an audio read through of the (initial version of...

How, exactly, should you increase your R&D spending? One kind of program seems to work and would be an excellent candidate for more funds: the US’ Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and the European Union’s SME instrument (which was modeled on the SBIR). This podcast is an audio read through of the (initial version of the) article An Example of High Returns to Publicly Funded R&...

Two different lines of evidence suggest 20 years is a good rule of thumb for how long it takes to go from science to technology: statistical correlations between R&D and productivity, and citations between patents and scientific articles. This podcast is an audio read through of the (initial version of the) article How long does it take to go from science to technology? , published in New Thin...

Sometimes obvious ideas work. If you want to encourage more innovation, give people better access to knowledge: libraries. This is an audio read through of the (initial version of the) article Free Knowledge and Innovation , published on New Things Under the Sun . Articles mentioned: Berkes, Enrico, and Peter Nencka. 2020. Knowledge Access: The Effects of Carnegie Libraries on Innovation. Working...

How do scientists and inventors decide what kinds of projects are interesting and valuable? Likely their individual life experiences influence these judgments, and one place we can see this is in the different research choices of men and women. This podcast is an audio readthrough of the (initial version of the) article Gender and What Gets Researched , published on New Things Under the Sun. Artic...

How did we end up in a situation where so many scientific papers do not replicate? One theory, is that the publish-or-perish system is to blame. This podcast is an audio read through of the (initial version of the) article Publish-or-perish and the Quality of Science , published on New Things Under the Sun. Articles mentioned Smaldino, Paul E., and Richard McElreath. 2016. The natural selection of...

We tend to think science often leads to new technologies; but actually most patents don't cite any scientific articles at all and surveys also tell us a lot of invention doesn't owe anything directly to science. But what about indirectly? This podcast is an read through of the (initial version of the) article Ripples in the River of Knowledge , published on New Things Under the Sun . Art...

Is entrepreneurship contagious? In this podcast I review some evidence that it is! This is an audio readthrough of the (initial version of) the article " Entrepreneurship is contagious ", published on New Things Under the Sun . Articles mentioned: Marx, Matt, and David H. Hsu. 2021. Revisiting the Entrepreneurial Commercialization of Academic Science: Evidence from “Twin” Discoveries. Ma...

What if one reason people don't become entrepreneurs is they just never think of it as as option for their lives? In this podcast, I review some papers suggesting this is the case. This is podcast is an audio readthrough of the (initial version) of the article ' The "idea" of being an entrepreneur ' published on New Things Under the Sun . Articles mentioned: Lindquist, Mat...

What kinds of technology benefit most from a scientific foundation to draw on? In this podcast I look at some papers suggesting it's especially helpful in unfamiliar domains. Places where the inventor is inexperienced, or the terrain especially treacherous. This is podcast is an audio readthrough of the (initial version of the) article " Science as a map of unfamiliar terrain " publ...

Sometimes obvious ideas work: if you want more technology, more science helps. In this episode I look at four episodes where science was increased and we can detect positive follow-on effects in related technology fields. This podcast is an audio readthrough of the (initial version of the) article " More science leads to more innovation ", published on New Things Under the Sun . Articles...

How much value does a dollar of R&D create? This is a really hard question to answer, but a 2021 paper by Benjamin Jones and Larry Summers describes a thought experiment that suggests the answer is "very high!" In this podcast, I walk through the thought experiment. This podcast is an audio version of (the initial version of) the article " What are the Returns to R&D? "...