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Innovation in Services Typology, case studies and policy implications
The Norwegian economy is dominated by services. When you design a policy that stimulates innovation, it is important to know what innovation in service sectors is all about. And not at least, what are the most important drivers and obstacles to innovation in this sector of the economy. In order to grasp the heterogeneity and specific characteristics of innovation in services, we regroup the standard industrial classification. Our five service groups: Problem solvers, assisting services, digital and manual distributive services and leisure services are consistently different with respect to how they create value for their customers as well as what and how they innovate. Among providers of distributive services, process innovations have generated strong productivity growth and thus lower transaction costs for the whole economy. Among problem solvers and providers of leisure services, product innovations have raised quality and enlarged product diversity, which contributes to larger consumer surplus and welfare.