Innovation for the Masses

How to Share the Benefits of the High-Tech Economy

Neil Lee

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English

University of California Press
30 September 2025

Economic history; Business innovation

An engaging, solutions-oriented look at how cities and nations can better foster innovation and equality.

From San Francisco to Shanghai, many of the world's most innovative places are highly unequal, with the benefits going to a small few. Rather than simply asking how we can create more high-tech cities and nations, Innovation for the Masses focuses on what we can learn from places that foster innovation while also delivering the benefits more widely and equally. In this book, economist Neil Lee draws on case studies of Taiwan, Sweden, Austria, and Switzerland to set out how innovation can be successfully balanced toward equity.

As high-tech economies around the world suffer from polarized labor markets and political realities that lock in these problems, this book looks beyond the United States to other models of distributing a leading-edge economy. Lee emphasizes the active role of the state in creating frameworks to ensure that benefits are broadly shared, revealing that strong policies for innovation and mutual prosperity reinforce each other. Ultimately, Innovation for the Masses provides a vital window into alternative models that prioritize equity, the roadblocks these models present, and what other countries can learn from them going forward.

By: Neil Lee
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9780520425033
ISBN 10: 0520425030
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 30 September 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Contents Acknowledgments Preface Introduction: Why Innovation Matters 1. The Economics of Innovation 2. Innovation and Living Standards 3. Switzerland: The Diffusion of Innovation 4. Austria: Innovating from Irrelevance 5. Taiwan: The Race between Education and Technological Development 6. Sweden: Disruption and the (Welfare) State Conclusion: Innovation and Shared Prosperity Notes References Index

Neil Lee is Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Reviews for Innovation for the Masses: How to Share the Benefits of the High-Tech Economy

""In a departure from the usual discourse, which is often about creating more high-tech nations, Lee (economic geography, London Sch. of Economics) looks at how to harness innovation, especially in the tech sector, to improve the lives of a broad swath of society . . . Effectively shows the importance of innovation in modern economies while also making clear that innovation alone does not guarantee good outcomes."" * Library Journal * ""The book brings much-needed nuance to the debate about how to foster an entrepreneurial culture that lifts broader society as well as industry."" * Financial Times * ""Put Silicon Valley and Boston on the back burner. . . . Innovation for the Masses, by Neil Lee, professor of economic geography at the London School of Economics – recently included by the Financial Times among its best new books on economics – offers a message on how universities can help create good jobs for their regions."" * Times Higher Education * ""An excellent guide for those seeking inspiration for a better economic model."" * Civil Service World * ""As the book offers a new set of lenses towards the framework of inclusive innovation policy, it is a recommended read for researchers, scholars, policy-makers and politicians."" * Economic Record *