This book would be impossible without the years of determined and insightful work by economists and others who glimpsed the beginnings of the intangible economy and sought to understand and to measure it. From the very start, Carol Corrado, Chuck Hulten, and Dan Sichel have been extraordinarily open and generous with their time and advice and have become delightful coauthors and friends. In particular, Carol Corrado has made detailed and invaluable comments on this text.

It is a pleasure as well to thank our various close coauthors over the years, as much of the data and thinking in this book is drawn from our joint work. Particular thanks are due to Tony Clayton of the Office for National Statistics and UK Intellectual Property Office, Peter Goodridge (Imperial College), Massimiliano Iommi (ISTAT), Cecilia Jona-Lasinio (LUISS), Gavin Wallis (Bank of England), Albert Bravo Biosca (Nesta), Mariela Dal Borgo (Warwick), Peter Gratzke (Nesta), Brian MacAulay (Nesta), Martin Brassell (Inngot), Ben Reid (Nesta), and Mauro Giorgio Marrano (Queen Mary).

We are also grateful to the organizations that have funded this work, including the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, EP/K039504/1), the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (COINVEST, 217512; SPINTAN 612774), HM Treasury, and the Agensi Inovasi Malaysia. In particular, much of the cross-country data in this book comes from the COINVEST- and SPINTAN-funded projects with long-standing coauthors Carol Corrado, Massimiliano Iommi, and Cecilia Jona-Lasinio.

Our authorial partnership began with our collaboration on Nesta’s Innovation Index, a project that would not have happened without the support of Richard Halkett and Jonathan Kestenbaum of Nesta, John Kingman of HM Treasury, and David Currie, who chaired the advisory board. A commission from Ryan Avent of the Economist gave us the idea of writing something for a wider audience.

We are also grateful to the people who challenged us to think about the broader implications of intangibles for the economy and for society and who patiently commented on drafts. Particular thanks go to Diane Coyle, for her insightful advice and comments throughout the project, and to Alex Edmans, Fernando Galindo Rueda, Neil Lee, Mike Lynch, David Pitt Watson, and Giles Wilkes, who commented on particular chapters, and Simon Haskel, who read the text in its entirety. Other readers and discussants to whom we are very grateful include Hasan Bakhshi, Daniel Finkelstein, Tom Forth, John Kay, Juan Mateos Garcia, Ramana Nanda, Paul Nightingale, Robert Peston, and Bart van Ark. Jonathan thanks his students Hussam Bakkar, Viktor Bertilsson, Shi The, and Xiaoyi Wang, while Stian thanks Nesta’s Policy & Research team for their input and support.

Of course, all errors and omissions are our responsibility.

Stian’s participation in the project was enabled by a period of leave from Nesta, which would not have been possible but for Geoff Mulgan, who generously granted it, and Louise Marston, who led the team with flair in his absence. Jonathan is grateful for the support of Imperial College and the European Commission-funded SPINTAN project during the writing period. All the while, Gemima King of Nesta and Donna Sutherland Smith of Imperial helped keep the show on the road.

Princeton University Press has been a source of support and encouragement throughout; we are especially grateful to Sarah Caro, Hannah Paul, and Chris Van Horne for their hard work.

Above all, we are grateful to our families for their boundless support and encouragement throughout this project: Stian to Kirsten, Aurelia, and Clara and Jonathan to Sue, Hannah, and Sarah. We dedicate this book, with love, to them.