Rethinking invention: cognition and the economics of technological creativity

Typically, economists have not devoted much attention to the act of invention. This article attempts to redress this situation by exploring a form of cognition, analogical transfer, which is thought by some researchers to lie at the heart of successful creativity. An analogical transfer is said to have occurred when information and experiences from one known situation are retrieved and utilized in the search for the solution to an entirely different situation. This article shows how such analogical thought can give rise to a theoretical framework in which disparate factors pertaining to technological creativity can be pieced together in a meaningful manner. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.