TY - JOUR
T1 - The Role of Standards in Innovation
AU - Allen, Robert H.
AU - Sriram, Ram D.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the System Integration for Manufacturing Applications (SIMA) program and the National Advanced Manufacturing Testbed (NAMT) program at NIST. We also thank Neil Christopher for initial input into the paper, Sam Schneider for his input on standards organizations, and Sharon Kemmerer for her thoughtful and thought provoking comments.
PY - 2000/6/1
Y1 - 2000/6/1
N2 - We review and explore the role of standards in innovation, with particular emphasis on design and manufacturing processes. We begin by defining and classifying standards and by exploring their role and infrastructure in society. This is followed by a similar discussion for innovation. By examining the relationships between innovation and standards, we extract the negative impact and the positive impact each has on the other. A study of four case histories in different domains - manufacturing, computer hardware, mechanical component design, and product data exchange - reveals that, as expected, standards are often derived from innovative technology. Surprisingly, however, innovation is often spurred - directly and indirectly - from standards as well. We conclude that, in general, the benefits of standards on innovation in design and manufacturing outweigh the possible limitations on creativity imposed by such standards.
AB - We review and explore the role of standards in innovation, with particular emphasis on design and manufacturing processes. We begin by defining and classifying standards and by exploring their role and infrastructure in society. This is followed by a similar discussion for innovation. By examining the relationships between innovation and standards, we extract the negative impact and the positive impact each has on the other. A study of four case histories in different domains - manufacturing, computer hardware, mechanical component design, and product data exchange - reveals that, as expected, standards are often derived from innovative technology. Surprisingly, however, innovation is often spurred - directly and indirectly - from standards as well. We conclude that, in general, the benefits of standards on innovation in design and manufacturing outweigh the possible limitations on creativity imposed by such standards.
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U2 - 10.1016/s0040-1625(99)00104-3
DO - 10.1016/s0040-1625(99)00104-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0347116049
SN - 0040-1625
VL - 64
SP - 171
EP - 181
JO - Technological Forecasting and Social Change
JF - Technological Forecasting and Social Change
IS - 2-3
ER -