This manuscript is a part of the first author’s doctoral thesis. We would like to thank the editor John Solcum and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Their comments were valuable and helped us in improving the paper. We also would like to thank Asli Arikan, Ilgaz Arikan, Jay Barney,

This paper will be focused on two issues. Firstly, entrepreneurial innovative behaviour will be explained and, investigating the corresponding literature, it will also be concluded that innovation can reasonably be explained by patent behaviour. Secondly, because of the essential role of R&D spillovers, these will be considered in greater detail. In this respect, strategic R&D behaviour of private enterprises will be analysed under the occurrence of spillovers. Based on imperfectly competitive product markets, optimal R&D and output strategies are mutually compared. A test for various EU countries is provided using the average propensity to patent (APP) as a crude measure for the absence of spillovers. This test is applied on a panel of 22 sectors using OECD, EPO and EUROSTAT data for Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom over the sample period 1989-1995. It is found that (coherent) long-run forecasts for the number of patent applications are feasibl...

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 1 II. TECHNICAL INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 3 COMPANY IDENTIFICATION & REASSIGNMENTS........................................................................................................................ 3 TECHNOLOGY CATEGORIZATIONS ............................................................................................................................................... 4 IDENTIFYING IMPORTANT PATENTS ........................................................................................................................................... 4 III. RESEARCH BACKGROUND .

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Patent trolls—firms that appropriate profits from innovation by enforcing patents against infringers—are peculiar players on markets for technologies. As buyers of patents, they are solely interested in the exclusion right, not in the underlying knowledge. Similarly, when they sell or license out patents, the transaction does not involve a technology transfer. In this paper, we empirically analyze trolls ’ patent acquisitions. We draw on a unique dataset of 753 patents acquired by known patent trolls, which we compare to 1506 patents acquired by practicing firms. Our findings regarding patent characteristics support recent theoretical propositions about the troll business model. Trolls focus on patents that have a broad scope and that lie in patent thickets. Furthermore, and contrary to common belief, we find that troll patents are of significantly higher quality than those in the control group, a result that suggests sustainability of the troll business in the future. Extrapolating from our findings, we posit that transactions involving patent trolls may only be the tip of the iceberg of “patent-only ” transactions, a conjecture with strong implications for the efficiency of markets for technologies. Managerial and policy implications are discussed.

This paper investigates whether firms active in biotechnology can improve their technological performance by being present in regions that host a concentration of similar technological activity. Biotechnology clusters are identified at the level of US states, Japanese prefectures and European NUTS2 regions. Based on a panel data set of 59 consolidated biopharmaceutical firms (period 1995-2002), we find empirical evidence for a positive albeit diminishing relationship (inverted U shape) between the number of technology clusters in which a firm is present and its subsequent overall technological performance. Presence in other (non-cluster) regions on the contrary, has no significant impact on the firm’s technological performance.

Patent activity on water pollution and treatment

In April 2004, Copenhagen Business School opens a centre for research on biotech business. Biotech Business includes a number of senior and junior researchers from CBS. Initially the centre takes its point of departure in four projects included in the research program on Competence, Organisation and Management in Biotech Industries

The study tries to analyze regional technological capabilities, linking technological positions to economic strength of the region. To measure this link, we correlate the EPO patent data with trade data to assess the degree to which technological advantages are translated into comparative advantages for the Flemish region in Belgium. The analysis for Flanders provides some interesting insights. Following the skewed distribution of firms, the technological areas in which Flanders is able to build a strong position are very specific: printing technology, weaving technology, photography and recently also telecommunications. Weak positions are outspoken in car technology. Linking these strengths and weaknesses in technological areas to economic activity revealed an important mismatch between both. Most of the Flemish patents are in sectors without any comparative advantage, while most of the sectors where Flanders does hold a comparative advantage, like chemicals and pharmaceuticals, do not show strong technological advantages in terms of patents. Given the mismatch that was detected between technological positions and economic advantages, it is of crucial importance to better understand the (missing) links between the various actors in the regional innovation system. The analysis points out two important issues. The large and growing number of foreign applicants to Belgian/Flemish inventors and the large number of subsidiaries of foreign firms among Belgian/Flemish applicants illustrate the pervasiveness of the foreign dimension in the Belgian/Flemish technological landscape. Also very specific to the Belgian/Flemish situation, is the limited importance of universities or research centers in terms of patenting activities. Proofs can be send to:

This includes a computer, tape drive and media (containing US and European patents granted and bibliographic data on international patents). I propose to start with the major patent databases (US, Europe), keeping in mind the possibility of adding country-specific databases in the future (e.g. Singapore, Japanese, German patents). 1 I already have the NBER citation database, which can be included free of charge. (ii) Cost (iii) Usage/Purpose A patent database will allow NUS faculty and staff to search and analyze patents from a variety of sources. Patent data has been used in a number of ways by academic researchers: • Patents are used to measure the innovation output of firms, research institutes, universities and countries. • Patent-to-patent citations are used to trace flows of knowledge, or to measure a firm's technological intensity. • Patent-to-science citations are used to trace the link between science and invention, as well as to measure a firm's science-intensity.