Knowledge Codification Helps Innovation and its Diffusion : A Stable State of Codified Knowledge Also Signals New Innovation

The connection between knowledge and innovation is inseparable. For every innovation there underlies a knowledge-base from a specific discipline; or the knowledge-base could borrow from multiple discipline. Even though the conventional wisdom would imply that it is usually the manufacturers of certain product that is primarily responsible for creating the innovation and its underlying knowledge-base, however, there is ample evidence in the literature that other constituents of a product (e.g. users, suppliers, distributors, insurers, etc) often have their contribution in generating novel ideas that result in new product design (i.e. innovation) or significant improvement of a current product. These contributions from other constituents highly depend on the state of the knowledge that underlies the product innovation. Some knowledge might be in a highly codified state, some others could be uncodified. Some knowledge might be easily codifiable; some others might be non-codifiable depending on the intrinsic nature of the knowledge. Codified knowledge is easy to transmit and therefore easy to share with other constituent. However, knowledge does not diminish if shared with others that make it distinct from most other commodities that economists usually deal with. Codification of knowledge depend not only the articulation of certain information, but sometimes it also implies history, experience and intrinsic qualities and capabilities of the holder of knowledge. In order to enable other constituents of a product innovation to participate into the process, all the parties have to have a common language to interact that permits them to exchange ideas and expertise gained from their respective roles in the innovation process. We argue here that the existence of common language depends on the status of the codification of knowledge that underlies the product innovation in question. When the knowledge reaches a relatively stable state, all the constituents are able to communicate with relative ease, users and buyers can make informed decision and the adoption of innovation increases. Also, a mature state of codification of the knowledge-base that underlies a product innovation would also inspire innovators to look for new ways of doing things, resulting in new innovation; often replacing the current product in the market