Abstract:

Innovation is vital to competition, consumer welfare and long-term economic growth. It has great societal benefits which should be promoted and protected. It is understood that innovation consists of several fundamental elements: creativity, risk-taking, value-addition, adoption, and destruction. Combing these elements allows for powerful new technologies to develop and change the way people travel, work and interact. Given this, a question arises as to whether and how competition law can protect and foster innovation in the digital sector. The aim of this article is to identify the challenges posed by innovation to competition law by demonstrating the difficulties of applying competition law to digital markets. The article also seeks to determine the role competition policy plays in ensuring innovation especially in securing access to competitively important data or preventing mergers that eliminate future rivals. Finally, the article suggests how the identified problems can be solved not through extensive changes to legal duties and standards of proof but rather through a well-designed cooperation between governments, competition agencies and industry.