Modeling technological innovation in private firms: the solar and microprocessor industries in northern California

The purpose of the report is to present the results from a research project on modeling technological innovation in the solar flat-plate collector industry and the microprocessor industry in Northern California during 1979. The objectives of this research were: To generate a framework for the study of technological innovation in private organizations; to test and demonstrate the feasibility of using this framework to determine how innovation occurs in firms within two industries; and to provide a foundation for a long-range institutional program in technological innovation and public policy. Each of the two industries of study is organized around a basic innovation: (1) the solar industry rests on the solar flat-plate collector dates from the turn of the century and (2) the microprocessor industry rests on the idea of putting a computer on a small silicon chip.