nep-knm New Economics Papers
on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy
Issue of 2025–10–13
four papers chosen by
Laura Nicola-Gavrila, Centrul European de Studii Manageriale în Administrarea Afacerilor


  1. Genius on Demand: The Value of Transformative Artificial Intelligence By Ajay K. Agrawal; Joshua S. Gans; Avi Goldfarb
  2. The anatomy of Chinese innovation: Insights on patent quality and ownership By Boeing, Philipp; Brandt, Loren; Dai, Ruochen; Lim, Kevin; Peters, Bettina
  3. Immersive virtual reality for soft-skills training of front-desk agents: Collective creation and appropriation of a virtual learning environment By Pierre Quesson; Cédric Dalmasso
  4. Teaming up with Large R&D Investors: Good or Bad for Knowledge Production and Diffusion? By Sara Amoroso; Simone Vannuccini

  1. By: Ajay K. Agrawal; Joshua S. Gans; Avi Goldfarb
    Abstract: This paper examines how the emergence of transformative AI systems providing ``genius on demand" would affect knowledge worker allocation and labour market outcomes. We develop a simple model distinguishing between routine knowledge workers, who can only apply existing knowledge with some uncertainty, and genius workers, who create new knowledge at a cost increasing with distance from a known point. When genius capacity is scarce, we find it should be allocated primarily to questions at domain boundaries rather than at midpoints between known answers. The introduction of AI geniuses fundamentally transforms this allocation. In the short run, human geniuses specialise in questions that are furthest from existing knowledge, where their comparative advantage over AI is greatest. In the long run, routine workers may be completely displaced if AI efficiency approaches human genius efficiency.
    JEL: D24 J24 O33
    Date: 2025–10
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34316
  2. By: Boeing, Philipp; Brandt, Loren; Dai, Ruochen; Lim, Kevin; Peters, Bettina
    Abstract: China's patenting activity has surged over the past two decades, yet questions remain about the quality and sources of innovation. We develop a new method to measure the importance of a patent for innovation, based on the use of a Large Language Model to process patent text data and a new theory of the innovation process. We apply this method to study the evolution of patenting in China from 1985 until recently, and also classify patent ownership using a comprehensive business registry. Our method and data yield several novel facts about Chinese patenting. Among these are that the patents which are important for innovation have become less important on average; that knowledge within China has become more important than knowledge outside of China for directing innovation in China; and that knowledge produced by Chinese entities has been more important than knowledge produced by foreign entities in China. These findings have implications for China's growth trajectory and reflect both global trends in the decline of innovativeness and potential effects of domestic policy.
    Date: 2025
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewpbs:328016
  3. By: Pierre Quesson (Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres); Cédric Dalmasso (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
    Abstract: Immersive virtual reality has gained a renewed popularity in the last decade, following the commercialization of HMDs and the surge in computing power. Allowing the creation of customized virtual worlds and both cognitive and emotional investment in these worlds for its users, immersive virtual reality has been used in education in training across several areas, mostly in the industrial sector and for procedural and technical knowledge. Research on training soft skills with this technology remains scarcer, and often does not question the adaptation of training processes by organizational members to integrate this technology. In this paper, we seek to fill this gap by presenting an intervention research with several partners aiming to create and test a customized learning environment for front-desk agents' training in a French public service organization. We underline how such a collaboration helps creating a customized virtual environment in which professional front-desk agents feel natural, and a virtual training scenario that adequately simulates real-life work situations, allowing professionals to appropriate the technology for their training. Then, we highlight how this technology enables professionals with different positions in the organization to share a same work experience, enabling them to collectively discuss the co-evolution of the technology and their training process.
    Keywords: Virtual leaning environment, Virtual environment, Training, Collaborative research, Intervention research, Soft skills, Immersive virtual reality
    Date: 2025–06–11
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05249547
  4. By: Sara Amoroso (DIW Berlin); Simone Vannuccini (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France)
    Abstract: The participation of top R&D investors in publicly funded research collaborations is a common, yet largely unexplored phenomenon. It creates opportunities for knowledge spillovers and may increase the chance for a project to be funded. At the same time, the unbalanced nature of such partnerships could exacerbate power asymmetries and hinder the overall performance of such collaborations. In this paper, we examine whether cooperating with top R&D companies affects the innovative performance of publicly funded research consortia. We build a fit-for-purpose dataset that matches information from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) on R&D collaborative projects and proposals with data on the world's top 2, 500 companies with the highest R&D investment (R&D Scoreboard). Accounting for both sample selection and endogeneity in the participation of top R&D investors in a two-part count model framework, we find that teaming up with leading R&D companies increases the probability of obtaining funds. However, this comes at the cost of hindering the innovative performance of the funded projects, both in terms of patents and publications. In light of this evidence, the tradeoffs of mobilizing top R&D players should be carefully leveraged in the evaluation and design of innovation policies aimed at R&D collaboration and technology diffusion.
    Keywords: Research collaboration, Public funding, Innovation performance, Appropriability, Top R&D investors
    JEL: L24 L25 O33
    Date: 2025–10
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2025-41

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