---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: lorenzo benussi lorenzo.benussi@unito.it Date: 21 Jan 2008 22:51 Subject: [Icommons] Call for paper - CREATING VALUE THROUGH DIGITAL COMMONS To: icommons@lists.ibiblio.org

CALL FOR PAPER TRACK WITHIN THE EURAM Conference 2008 CREATING VALUE THROUGH DIGITAL COMMONS. How collective management of IPRs, open innovation models, and digital communities shape the industrial dynamics in the XXI century. Ljubljana & Blend – May 15th -17th 2008

TRACK DESCRIPTION The track, hosted within the EURAM Conference 2008 (http://www.euram2008.org ), focuses on how digital commons (DC) create value through open ways of managing knowledge and innovation. We encourage the submission of papers addressing how open accessibility, mainly through digital networks, is affecting economic activities. In recent years, information has become a primary wealth-creating asset, while technological developments have transformed the production process from physically-based to knowledge-based. As a consequence, the management of technology and knowledge are key factors to compete on the markets. Following this path, new ways of managing IPRs that foster instead of limit the access to information (Benkler, 2006), have emerged as reliable business opportunities for firms in different sectors (software, biotechnologies, pharmaceutical, media, industrial design). Moreover, the creativity and competitiveness of companies are benefiting from open production and innovation methods (Chesbrough, 2003; von Hippel, 2005), relying on an emergent division of labour, collective ownership of intellectual properties, and information sharing in on-line communities. Leading examples of these new trends are the success of Free/Open Source (FOSS) solutions; the increasing usage of Creative Commons Licenses; the phenomenal success of the on- line encyclopaedia Wikipedia and, more generally, the flourishing of user generated contents. This track aims at contributing to the research agenda on the economic exploitation of digital commons, dealing with intriguing research questions as.: how is possible to profit from public knowledge? How does the open model perform compared to the proprietary one? Do digital commons favour the creation of new ventures? How to manage incentives and the division of labour in open environments? Which are the strategies to compete in such new markets?

SUBMISSIONS Extended abstracts will be considered, but a preference will be given to full papers. We invite well-crafted papers contributing original ideas on different sectors as software, biotechnology, media, pharmaceutical, and industrial design. All submissions will receive a double blind review process. A non-exhaustive list of themes is as follows: l BUSINESS MODELS: taxonomies and case studies on how firms extract value from digital commons; sustainability of open business models; relationships between firms and virtual communities; division of labour and competitive strategies in open environments; l OPEN INSTITUTIONAL REGIMES: new ways of managing IPRs; comparison between open and traditional IPRs regimes; free riding vs. trust in on-line communities; policies to increase knowledge production by sharing and re-using l FREE/OPEN SOURCE ENTREPRENEURSHIP: FOSS-based firms as a special case of New Technology-Based Firms; fund-rising of FOSS based enterprises; FOSS strategies of large and small software companies; hybridization between commercial and Free/Open Software; FOSS strategies in developing countries l OPEN INNOVATION: internal vs. external sources of knowledge, new ways of organising R&D; types of knowledge and models of governance; open management and integration of intangible assets; assessment of users' integration inside firms boundaries; on-line community building and management. l COMMONS-BASED CREATIVITY: how public availability of contents through digital networks fosters creativity; analysis of collective invention/creation processes (Wikipedia, Linux, SETI@home); reuse and mixing of existing contents as lever of creativity; economic exploitation of public licensed contents. We are making arrangements for a Special Issue of an International Journal and are planning to invite two keynote speakers among the most important scholars in the field.

TRACK CHAIRS: Cristina Rossi, Politecnico di Milano, cristina1.rossi@polimi.it Lorenzo Benussi, University of Turin, lorenzo.benussi@unito.it Jean Michel Dalle, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, jean-michel.dalle@upmc.fr

DEADLINES Authors should submit their potential contribution to this EURAM track by 27 January 2008 24:00 (CET)trough the conference Web site (seehttp://www.euram2008.org/CallForPapers.asp)

Decisions of paper acceptance will be made by FEBRUARY 22TH 2007

---- Lorenzo Benussi Research Fellow ----------------------------------- Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "F. Momigliano" Department of Economics "S. Cognetti de Martiis" University of Turin Via Po 53 10124 Turin, Italy Tel +39 011 6704980 Fax +39 011 6703895 ---- "Knowledge is like a candle. Even as it lights a new candle, the strength of the original flame is not diminished." Thomas Jefferson

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