Simulating Knowledge Dynamics in Innovation Networks

SKIN is a multi-agent model of innovation networks in knowledge-intensive industries grounded in empirical research and theoretical frameworks from innovation economics and economic sociology. The agents represent innovative firms who try to sell their innovations to other agents and end users but who also have to buy raw materials or more sophisticated inputs from other agents (or material suppliers) in order to produce their outputs. This basic model of a market is extended with a representation of the knowledge dynamics in and between the firms. Each firm tries to improve its innovation performance and its sales by improving its knowledge base through adaptation to user needs, incremental or radical learning, and co-operation and networking with other agents.

To cite the SKIN model please use the following acknowledgement:

Gilbert, Nigel, Ahrweiler, Petra and Pyka, Andreas (2010) The SKIN (Simulating Knowledge Dynamics in Innovation Networks) model. University of Surrey, University College Dublin and University of Hohenheim.

Copyright 2003 - 2010 Nigel Gilbert, Petra Ahrweiler and Andreas Pyka. All rights reserved.

Permission to use, modify or redistribute this model is hereby granted, provided that both of the following requirements are followed: a) this copyright notice is included. b) this model will not be redistributed for profit without permission and c) the requirements of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ are complied with.

The authors gratefully acknowldge funding during the course of development of the model from the European Commission, DAAD, and the British Council.