Our Mission

In the Idea Lab, we take a multi-disciplinary and multi-method approach to the study of ideas and intellectual property. We explore the bonds knowledge workers form with their ideas; the mechanisms by which they protect their ideas; and how concerns about idea theft influence their behavior. In addition, we study the mindset of those who steal ideas, and the circumstances that increase and decrease rates of and concerns about idea theft. We study these phenomena from the perspective of employees in traditional organizations, as well as entrepreneurs, independent inventors, and other creative workers, like musicians.