Collaborative knowledge creation: Evidence from Japanese patent data. (arXiv:1908.01256v1 [econ.GN])

This paper presents micro-econometric evidence for collaborative knowledge creation at the level of individual researchers. The key determinant for developing new ideas is the exchange of differentiated knowledge among collaborators. To stay creative, inventors seek opportunities to shift their technological expertise to unexplored niches by utilizing the differentiated knowledge of new collaborators. Furthermore, a more active recombination of collaborators by an inventor facilitates the selection of collaborators to raise the amount of differentiated knowledge from their collaborators.