Successful innovation: The determinants of commercialisation and break-even times of innovations

Successful innovation is typically defined at the firm level where market shares, productivity, or profitability is taken as an indicator of success. Nonetheless, firms are simultaneously involved in many innovation development projects with varying success. This paper defines the success of innovations through the time taken for the innovations to reach commercialisation and the point of break-even, to investigate the relationships between the sources and success of innovations. The paper uses a database of Finnish innovations commercialised during the 1980s and 1990s, and contributes to previous research by covering a range of different types of innovations from various industries, and by applying econometric duration analysis. The results carry implications for the management of innovation and the design of policy from the viewpoint of trade-offs between the timeliness, objective and outcomes of innovation.