The Linear Model of Innovation. The Historical Construction of an Analytical Framework

"(...) One of the first (conceptual) frameworks developed for understanding the rela-tion of science and technology to the economy has been the linear model ofinnovation. The model postulated that innovation starts with basic research, isfollowed by applied research and development, and ends with production anddiffusion. The precise source of the model remains nebulous, having neverbeen documented. Several authors who have used, improved, or criticized themodel in the past fifty years rarely acknowledged or cited any original source.The model usually was taken for granted. According to others, however, itcomes directly from V. Bush’s Science: The Endless Frontier ((1945) 1995).This article traces the history of the linear model, suggesting that it developedin three steps corresponding to three scientific communities looking at scienceanalytically. The article argues that statistics is a main reason the model is stillalive despite criticisms, alternatives, and having been proclaimed dead. (...)"