Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/203094 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
LEM Working Paper Series No. 2019/04
Publisher: 
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Pisa
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the relevance for innovation of international exhibitions. While the first of these events, i.e. London's 1851 Great Exhibition, was an "exhibition of innovations", many of the subsequent ones, following the model of industrial exhibitions developed in France, did not select exhibits based on novelty. In fact, they displayed a large spectrum of products, ranging from machines to primary products. Therefore, the suitability of data from their catalogues for proxying innovation, and their relationship to the traditional patent measure, should be better qualified. To do so, this paper performs an in-depth analysis of the Turin 1911 international exhibition, a medium-sized representative "French-model" exhibition. It matches a new database, built from the catalogue of this event, with patents granted in Italy, revealing substantial differences. Furthermore, it evaluates how inventors could use the exhibition to promote their ideas, establish their reputation, and develop their career.
Subjects: 
Innovation
international exhibitions
Italy
patents
JEL: 
N74
O31
O33
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.