title: Faster is more different: mean-field dynamics of innovation diffusion.
abstract: Based on a recent model of paradigm shifts by Bornholdt et al., we studied mean-field opinion dynamics in an infinite population where an infinite number of ideas compete simultaneously with their values publicly known. We found that a highly innovative society is not characterized by heavy concentration in highly valued ideas: Rather, ideas are more broadly distributed in a more innovative society with faster progress, provided that the rate of adoption is constant, which suggests a positive correlation between innovation and technological disparity. Furthermore, the distribution is generally skewed in such a way that the fraction of innovators is substantially smaller than has been believed in conventional innovation-diffusion theory based on normality. Thus, the typical adoption pattern is predicted to be asymmetric with slow saturation in the ideal situation, which is compared with empirical data sets.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul, Korea. seungki@kias.re.kr
authors.forename: Seung Ki
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Baek
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Durang
authors.forename: Mina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D062069:Inventions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011153:Population; D011642:Publications
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