intellectual property

Useful Stats: Is the U.S. Becoming Less Innovative? Patents per Employee Drop

The number of U.S. patents per employee decreased in 43 states from 2003 to 2007, as patents per employee for the U.S. as a whole declined by 10.3 percent over the same five-year period. To track this metric, SSTI has prepared a table calculating the number of patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) per 100,000 employees for each state. The table also displays the relative ranking of each state from 2003 to 2007, as well as each state's five-year percent change.

Recent Research: Human Capital, Small Businesses Drive Local Patenting Activity

Over the past few decades, state and local policymakers have approached the task of increasing regional innovative activity from a number of directions. Leaders have deployed plans to increase the amount of available capital, to train entrepreneurs, to attract research-based companies and other strategies to create a thriving innovation economy. A key issue in this pursuit is how to keep the beneficial results of these efforts local. Investing in commercializing new technologies at a local university can lead to new companies that then leave the region, undermining the local effort to support and keep those new firms.

Compromise Allows Patent Reform to Move to Senate Floor

Congress has been debating the need to revise U.S. patent law for years, and, while the debate certainly is not over, a significant hurdle was passed last week when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 15-4 to move S.515, as amended, for full Senate consideration. 

Gatekeepers in Regional Networks of Innovators

January 01, 2007

This paper looks at the characteristics of regional gatekeepers, which are individuals, firms, and organizations that bring new ideas from outside the region, and distribute knowledge within the region. The author finds size is not a predictor if an entity will be a gatekeeper, but the absorptive capacity is a predictor. The paper uses social network theory research to connect the data, data which is based on the applicants of filed patents.

When Do Scientists Become Entrepreneurs? The Social Structural Antecedents of Commercial Activity in the Academic Life Sciences

January 01, 2006

Stuart and Waverly Ding of Berkeleys Haas School of Business take a randomly selected sample of 5,100 life science Ph.D.s in academia, and examine the link between participation in for-profit entrepreneurial ventures and the presence of an academic social network that supports faculty entrepreneurism. They find that university scientists are more likely to found or join the board of a new firm if other faculty members have already done so, particularly if more prestigious colleagues in their department have created their own start-ups.

The Impact of Academic Patenting on the Rate, Quality and Direction of (Public) Research Output

January 01, 2006

In this January 2006 paper, Stuart, Ding, and Pierre Azoulay of Columbia Universitys Graduate School of Business examine the patents and research output of 3,862 academic life scientists to determine if the increasing focus on commercialization at American universities is affecting the quantity and quality of published research. They conclude that patent activity has a positive effect on the rate of article publication, but no observable effect on the quality of those articles.

Reforming U.S. Patent Policy: Getting the Incentives Right

January 01, 2006

The United States has used bilateral trade agreements to push small developing countries to accept IPR obligations that go far beyond the global requirements set out by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in its Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Some of these obligations are inconsistent with development needs and cause resentment of overall U.S. trade policy without much promise of spurring more innovation. This report provides suggestions to alleviate these problems.

University Patenting: Estimating the Diminishing Breadth of Knowledge Diffusion and Consumption

January 01, 2006

This report measures the rate of knowledge spillovers both into and out of university patents during two time frames during the 1980s. The authors conclude that the diversity of patents that are used to assist university patents have decreased by 50% over the years. The believe that since Bayh-Dole, private firms may be having more of an impact on university patenting.

Patents, Research Exemption, and the Incentive for Sequential Innovation

January 01, 2006

This paper develops a dynamic duopoly model of R&D competition to improve the quality of a final good. The authors find that firms, ex ante, always prefer full patent protection. The welfare ranking of the two IPR regimes, on the other hand, depends on the relative magnitudes of the costs of initial innovation and improvements. In particular, a research exemption is most likely to provide inadequate R&D incentives when there is a large cost to establish the initial research program.

Gender Differences in Patenting in the Academic Life Sciences

January 01, 2006

In this Kauffman-sponsored study, Stuart, Ding, and Fiona Murray of MITs Sloan School of Management reveal that male life scientists in academia secure patents at more than twice the rate of their female colleagues. The study suggests that women conduct equally significant research, but often find themselves left out of social networks that provide valuable access to the commercial sector. The authors conclude that additional networking groups could help foster greater connections between female researchers and the business community.

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