Assessing innovation in the software sector: Proprietary vs. FOSS production mode. Preliminary evidence from the Italian case

Abstract

Innovation in the software sector is a widely debated issue. Which are the most important dimensions to assess innovation in this field? Can we measure innovative processes carried out by software companies and what kind of innovation do they develop? Are FOSS solutions more innovative than proprietary ones? These are the research questions we endeavor to answer in this paper providing some empirical evidence, obtained using an original methodology of collecting experts' evaluations on the innovation level of 134 solutions provided by a group of Italian Small and Medium Enterprises. © 2008 International Federation for Information Processing.