Innovation Diffusion And Non-Equity Networks: The Impact Of Biased Perception

Non-equity organizations, e. g.: consortiums in various juridical forms, are one of the most widely spread ways for setting up formalized collaborations among enterprises that aim to share resources and results, with the goal of reaching economies of scale - both financial and related to knowledge. A simulation model is described and implemented, based on computational agents, with the purpose of representing non-equity collaboration dynamics among small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We show that innovation diffusion, under optimal conditions, leads to clusters creation and link strengthening, starting from non-equity networks. After showing this, the concept of biased perception is introduced. We show that proper perception of the benefits granted by the adoption of an innovation is a crucial element in order to understand its circulation potential and its growth rate.