The purpose of this paper is to investigate the evolutionary process of imitation and innovation as a process of searching in a given neighbourhood of firms. Networks are the main source of information for firms willing to actively search and upgrade and which define the reachable neighbourhood...

This paper deals with the aggregate effects of small, exogenous but idiosyncratic technological shocks on locally interacting firms. Its main purpose is to model a situation in which technological paradigms emerge through endogenous propagation and diffusion of information leading to an...

Technological innovation requires the gathering of information through a process of searching and learning. We distinguish two different but definitely complementary and overlapping ways through which searching and learning occur. The first exploits the spillover potential that lies in a firm's...

This paper studies the evolution of a network of leading firms that are engaged in an active search to improve their technological capability through interaction with knowledge-heterogeneous firms. Through the simulation of a linear model of technological spillovers we show the emergence of...

The aim of this paper is to investigate the nexus between demand patterns and innovation as it stems from research efforts and the extent of specialization. In the proposed model an innovation race conducted by entrants investing in research and development against established incumbents raises...

The paper investigates the mechanics through which novel technological principles are developed and diffused throughout an economy consisting of a technologically heterogeneous ensemble of firms. In the model entrepreneurs invest in the discovery and in the diffusion of a technological principle...