Abstract
Studies of innovation, technology transfer and technology diffusion identify tacit knowledge as an important component of innovation (e.g. Dosi, 1988; Rosenberg, 1976, 1982). None of these discussions provide a satisfactory definition for tacit knowledge or give a detailed, systematic account of its role in technological innovation. Nor do they provide guidance on how its importance may differ according to the industrial sector or technology being studied or how firms may acquire it.
This chapter was first presented as a paper at the PICT ‘Exploring Expertise’ Conference at the University of Edinburgh in November 1992 (and published in AI & Society, Vol. 7, No.3 (1993) by Springer-Verlag; reprinted herewith with permission of the publisher). The author would like to acknowledge the financial support of the ESRC both through the Designated Research Centre on Science, Technology and Energy Policy at the Science Policy Research Unit, which enabled this paper to be written; and for the project entitled ‘Public-private research linkages in advanced technologies’ (ESRC award number Y 306 25 3001) conducted under the Science Policy Support Group/ESRC programme Public Science and Commercial Enterprise from which the empirical results derive.
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© 1998 Jacqueline Senker
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Senker, J. (1998). The Contribution of Tacit Knowledge to Innovation. In: Williams, R., Faulkner, W., Fleck, J. (eds) Exploring Expertise. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13693-3_10
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