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Invention and innovation as creative problem solving activities -...

Invention and innovation as creative problem solving activities - A contribution to evolutionary microeconomics

Introduction
The starting point of our paper are some shortcomings of current evolutionary theorizing concerning the microeconomics of novelty creating behaviour (section II). Our suggestion is to get rid of these shortcomings by reassessing the framework of problem solving. We begin the discussion of the concept of problem solving by giving a short introduction into the seminal contribution of Simon and Newell (section III). However, using the concept of problem solving for dealing with the microeconomics of invention and innovation requires an enhancement of that concept. Hints for such an enhancement can be found in modern research on human creativity. The basic elements of this research and the possible integration of problem solving procedures in the realm of creative human action is dealt with in section IV. Finally in section V it is shown, how a synthesis of problem solving methodology and creativity analysis opens up new perspectives for discussing invention and innovation from a micro-perspective and how such a perspective can be linked to a concept of economic agent.