{
  "id": 18026033,
  "title": "Study finds stronger trade secret protection leads firms to break down innovation silos",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/03/study-finds-stronger-trade-secret-protection-leads-firms-to-break",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-11-03T21:40:12.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-11-stronger-secret-firms-silos.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A new study published in the Strategic Management Journal reveals that when U.S. states strengthened trade secret laws, high-tech firms relied less on compartmentalizing their inventors and instead connected them more broadly. This shift resulted in a 4.2% reduction in inventor-network modularity and a 15.9% increase in technological impact, relative to sample means. The effect was observed roughly two years after the enactment of the stronger trade secret laws. New hires became more prevalent in bridging separate innovation communities, while the positions of long-term employees remained largely unchanged. Legal protection appears to ease the trust problem associated with hiring new employees, making firms more willing to place both experienced and early-career hires in bridging roles. This research has implications for policymakers considering trade secret law, employee mobility, and noncompete agreements, as well as for managing innovation within organizations.",
  "summary": "To guard proprietary know-how, many firms separate their inventors into independent groups so that no single employee sees too much of the organization's knowledge. New research published in Strategic Management Journal finds that when U.S. states strengthened trade secret law, high-tech firms relied less on this kind of compartmentalization and connected their inventors more broadly—and the…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}