  In this work we analyze how reputation-based interactions influence the
emergence of innovations. To do so, we make use of a dynamic model that mimics
the discovery process by which, at each time step, a pair of individuals meet
and merge their knowledge to eventually result in a novel technology of higher
value. The way in which these pairs are brought together is found to be crucial
for achieving the highest technological level. Our results show that when the
influence of reputation is weak or moderate, it induces an acceleration of the
discovery process with respect to the neutral case (purely random coupling).
However, an excess of reputation is clearly detrimental, because it leads to an
excessive concentration of knowledge in a small set of people, which prevents a
diversification of the technologies discovered and, in addition, leads to
societies in which a majority of individuals lack technical capabilities.
