Foreign inventors in Europe and the United States: Diversity and Patent Quality

We explore the impact of migrant inventors on patent quality in Europe and the United States between 1990 and 2010. Drawing on a large sample of patent applications filed at the European Patent Office with a corresponding Patent Cooperation Treaty extension, we select inventor teams whose members reside in the countries of interest, but whose nationality may vary. In keeping with the literature, we find that migrant inventors are associated with higher quality patents via increased diversity at the team level, in addition to increased diversity at both the company and local level. This positive relationship with diversity persists after conditioning for the presence of migrants in the team, which is suggestive of cultural, and not merely functional, diversity.     

Cheaper patents

The 1883 Patents Act in Britain provides perspective for modern patent policy reforms because it radically changed incentives for inventors by reducing filing fees by 84 percent. Patents increased 2.5-fold after the reform, which was evenly distributed across the geography of inventors, the organization of invention and sectors. By realizing a large demand for cheaper patents the reform increased the propensity to patent and shifted inventive activity inside the patent system. It did not increase innovation as measured by changes in the distribution of high and low value patents and citations to English inventor patents in the United States.     

从学术型发明人视角看高科技领域科学与技术研究前沿主题的关系 ——以石墨烯领域为例

学术型发明人是科学向技术转移的重要桥梁和媒介.本文从识别高影响力的学术型发明人入手,通过对高影响力学术发明人的论文和专利的持续研究主题的研究,来识别对比高科技领域科学与技术前沿主题的差别与联系,并分析识别学术型发明人的研究成果中的更具市场潜力的研究主题.研究发现,不同国家的学术型发明人的研究侧重点不同,有的偏重科学研究...     

Institutionalized incentives for ingenuity—Patent value and the German Employees’ Inventions Act

Germany is one of few countries in which the monetary compensation for inventors is not only determined by negotiations between employer and employee-inventor, but also by relatively precise legal provisions. In this paper, we describe the characteristics of the German Employees’ Inventions Act (GEIA) and discuss which incentives it creates. We rely on responses from a recent survey of 3350 German inventors to test hypotheses regarding this institution. We conclude from our data that the law creates substantial monetary rewards for productive inventors. The qualitative responses from our survey confirm this view, but also point to a number of dysfunctional effects.     

Trade secrets laws and technology spillovers

This article examines whether and to what extent the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) affects technology spillovers between focal firms (i.e., receivers of spillovers) and peers (i.e., senders of spillovers). I find that technology spillovers from peers located in states adopting the UTSA are 27 % to 51 % lower than technology spillovers from peers located in states not adopting the UTSA. Focal firms whose peers come from the UTSA states have fewer migrant inventors than firms whose peers come from non-UTSA states.     

Scientific mobility and knowledge networks in high emigration countries: Evidence from the Pacific

This paper uses a unique survey to examine the nature and extent of knowledge flows that result from the international mobility of researchers whose initial education was in small island countries. Current migrants produce substantially more research than similar-skilled return migrants and non-migrants. Return migrants have no greater research impact than individuals who never migrate but are the main source of research knowledge transfer between international and local researchers. Our results contrast with previous claims in the literature that too few migrant researchers ever return home to have much impact, and that there is no productivity gain to researchers from migration.     

Tracing mobile inventors—The causality between inventor mobility and inventor productivity

This paper analyses the causality between inventor productivity and inventor mobility. The results show that the level of education has no influence on inventor productivity. Making use of external sources of knowledge, on the contrary, has a significant effect on productivity. Finally, firm size has a positive impact on productivity. Firm size also influences inventor mobility, although negatively. Whereas existing research implicitly assumes causality to point in one direction, this study ex ante allows for a simultaneous relationship. To deal with the expected endogeneity problem, instrumental variables techniques (IVREG and IVPROBIT) will be employed. Results show that mobile inventors are more productive than non-movers. Whereas a move increases productivity, an increase in productivity decreases the probability to observe a move.     

Bridges or isolates? Investigating the social networks of academic inventors

We analyze the acquaintances of a sample of academic inventors and their paired controls to investigate the contribution of social networks to the generation of inventive ideas in academe. Prior to patenting, inventors work in networks of similar dimension and structure as those of their colleagues who do not invent. The ego-networks of the inventors are however more cohesive (denser), a circumstance that is often seen as associated to the exchange of more fine-grained information and to a greater climate of trust which facilitates long-term relationships and learning. Over time, both inventors and non-inventors extend their networks and become more central. In general, we found no evidence that after patenting inventors isolate or close their networks.     

Why are some independent inventors ‘heroes’ and others ‘hobbyists’? The moderating role of technological diversity and specialization

Despite a substantial body of research investigating the market significance of inventions by independent inventors, relatively little attention has been devoted to understanding their technological significance. A recent study conducted by [Dahlin, K., Taylor, M., Fichman, M., 2004. Today's Edisons or weekend hobbyists: technical impact and success of inventions by independent inventors. Res. Policy 33, 1167-1183] on the tennis racket industry shows that independent inventors are a heterogeneous group which includes both “heroes” who contribute substantially to technological progress and “hobbyists” who make only a marginal contribution. What is not asked - and therefore not explained - is why this distinction arises. In this paper, we focus on the type of prior technological knowledge (in terms of technological specialization and diversity) applied by independent inventors and their corporate counterparts as a factor explaining differences in technological impact. Our empirical setting is the field of medical equipment technology. We find that independent inventors are more sensitive to the negative effects of technological diversity than their corporate counterparts. Furthermore, our study reveals that technological specialization pays off more for independent inventors than for their corporate counterparts. Therefore, those independent inventors who apply low degrees of diversity and high degrees of specialization are capable of reaching the same level as or even outperforming their corporate counterparts, thus becoming “heroes”. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for research and corporate practice.     

陕西南部生态移民减贫效应研究

陕西南部生态移民计划于2011—2020年实现240万人的移民搬迁,对其减贫效率进行定量评价,可为精准扶贫和移民减贫战略提供启示和借鉴。本文利用对陕西南部商洛、安康和汉中三市1032农户4年的平衡面板数据,采用农户陷入贫困的维度数和贫困剥夺得分为贫困代理变量,使用双重差分法、基于倾向得分匹配的双重差分法和固定面板效应回归方法,对陕西南部生态移民公共政策的减贫效应进行了评价。结果显示,陕西南部生态移民政策对迁移农户的减贫效应显著,高风险偏好和拥有更多外部机会的农户更容易脱贫。在后续的生态移民政策实施过程中,应着重培育产业发展,防止搬迁农户陷入收入贫困,同时,引导农户改变风险态度并提升自我发展能力,为农户提供更多的外部机会,使生态脆弱地区农户通过生态移民摆脱贫困。     

Invention in the city: Increasing returns to patenting as a scaling function of metropolitan size

We investigate the relationship between patenting activity and the population size of metropolitan areas in the United States over the last two decades (1980-2001). We find a clear superlinear effect, whereby new patents are granted disproportionately in larger urban centers, thus showing increasing returns in inventing activity with respect to population size. We characterize this relation quantitatively as a power law with an exponent larger than unity. This phenomenon is commensurate with the presence of larger numbers of inventors in larger metropolitan areas, which we find follows a quantitatively similar superlinear relationship to population, while the productivity of individual inventors stays essentially constant across metropolitan areas. We also find that structural measures of the patent co-authorship network although weakly correlated to increasing rates of patenting, are not enough to explain them. Finally, we show that R&D establishments and employment in other creative professions also follow superlinear scaling relations to metropolitan population size, albeit possibly with different exponents.     

Networks of inventors and the role of academia: an exploration of Italian patent data

This paper proposes a quantitative analysis of social distance between Open Science and Proprietary Technology. A few general properties of social networks within both realms are discussed, as they emerge from the new economics of science and recent applied work on “small worlds”. A new data-set on patent inventors is explored, in order to show that social networks within Proprietary Technology are much more fragmented than Open Science ones, except for science-based technologies. Two propositions are then put forward on the “open” behaviour expected from academic inventors, namely university scientists getting involved in Proprietary Technology networks by signing patents. Both propositions are confirmed by data, which show academic inventors to be more central and better connected than non-academic ones. The database and methodology produced for this paper are suggested to be relevant for the more general debate on the role of geographical and cognitive distance in university-industry technology transfer.     

Academic inventors as brokers

Academic inventors are university scientists who appear as designated inventors of patents owned either by business companies, academic institutions or individuals. We analyse their relationships with co-inventors, who may be either academic colleagues, students, or, very often, industrial researchers. Gould and Fernandez's (1989) taxonomy of ‘brokerage’ roles is adjusted to patent data, and complemented with information drawn from both academic inventors’ publications and replies to a short questionnaire. Only very few academic inventors are found to hold brokerage positions. Such inventors have a large number of patents, a strong publication record and a higher-than-average share of patents held by companies, rather than universities. Relationships of academic inventors with co-inventors from industry are weaker and less likely to be maintained than those with co-inventors from academia. Academic inventors in gatekeeping positions (between university and industry) maintain the strongest ties with all types of co-inventors.     

Superstar inventors—Towards a people-centric perspective on the geography of technological renewal in the multinational corporation

This paper develops a people-centric perspective on the geographical dispersion of technological renewal in the multinational corporation (MNC). We contend that a large proportion of all foreign technological advancements can be attributed to a handful of individual inventors, suggesting a blockbuster effect of subsidiary technological development. This suggests that analyses carried out at the subsidiary or firm level disguise significant yet largely unexplored variation in the technological contributions made by individual members of these foreign units. To support this proposition, the paper draws upon an original data set that comprises all of the advanced foreign subsidiaries of 21 Swedish MNCs between 1893 and 2008, and follows their patenting activity in order to document the distribution of inventive activity, both across and within individual subsidiaries. The findings at the subsidiary level show that the distribution of technological activity and contribution to the overall multinational group is significantly skewed; the paper then empirically explores the assumption that a similar distribution also applies at the level of individual inventors. The results point to a pattern whereby most inventors make only occasional and limited technological contributions and, instead, more significant numbers of new technological discoveries are attributable to a select group of exceptionally inventive individuals. In the light of the results, we suggest the fruitfulness of applying a people-centric perspective on the sources of sustained competitive advantage of the MNC, the management of geographically dispersed capabilities in the multinational network, and the geographical sources of technological renewal in the MNC.     

The distinctive research of the individual inventor

While there is much opinion about the work of individual inventors — most of it either highly dismissive or hopelessly romantic — very little is actually known about their work or about what sort of individuals invent. This paper is based on the second of two research studies carried out in Australia. The first sought, by means of an extensive survey, to discover something about the characteristics and motivation of individuals who invent, or, more accurately, who apply for patents. The second built upon this work in an effort to determine whether the work of individuals was especially different from that of formal research units. Individual inventors do generally work in different areas from research units, but their work seems to be valued most by those units when it is most similar to the units' own research. However, when comparison can be made, the individual's work is regarded as less professional than formal research. Although research units seem to have little contact with individual inventors, do not usually hold their work in high esteem, and would normally be quite capable of devising their inventions within the unit, they do show an interest in the patents of individuals and sometimes license from them. Individual inventors are remote from the innovative process in which the research unit is expected to play a part. It remains uncertain whether the distinctive nature of their work makes it worthwhile drawing individual inventors closer to that innovative process.     

Innovating in the periphery: The impact of local and foreign inventor mobility on the value of Indian patents

We examine the impact of local and foreign labor mobility in India by modeling one regional and one global network, each of which captures the inter-organizational mobility of inventors. Our analysis of the regional network shows that, within India, the productivity of inventors does not improve when they move from foreign to Indian organizations. In the global network, we find that Indian organizations remain located in the periphery as a result of employing a small number of inventors from foreign organizations. However, in the instances when inventors are hired from foreign organizations, they are able to produce patents with a higher impact in comparison to inventors hired from other Indian organizations. Furthermore, when the inventors are hired from abroad, the impact of their patents is even higher in comparison. The implications of these findings for innovation and policy in the emerging economy context are discussed.     

知识组合新颖性、网络特征与核心发明人关系研究

[研究目的]专利是企业或组织获取核心竞争力的重要工具。专利发明人作为专利价值的载体,对企业或组织发展的影响不可忽视。从知识组合新颖性与网络特征两个方面进行分析,为企业或组织识别、挖掘及引进核心人才提供参考。[研究方法]从Derwent Innovation数据库中选取LED专利,以专利诉讼视角将发明人专利是否涉讼作为核心发明人的代理变量,发明人的知识组合新颖性、度数中心性、接近中心性、中介中心性、特征向量中心性作为自变量,进行Logistic回归。[研究结论]研究发现知识组合新颖性、度数中心性、接近中心性、特征向量中心性与核心发明人有显著的正向影响。建议企业或组织在挖掘及引进技术人才时应多关注技术领域不同、合作次数较多以及拥有较多重要合作伙伴的发明人。     

Mind the gap: Capturing value from basic research through combining mobile inventors and partnerships

To successfully generate more valuable technologies from accessing basic research knowledge, firms need to combine institutional and individual level bridges to universities and research institutes active in basic research. This combination is particularly important when the new technology builds on scientific prior art. While mobile inventors are needed to transfer and translate basic knowledge into new technologies, partnerships provide the commitment, resources and incentive structure to integrate this basic research knowledge more effectively into the firm’s innovation process, thus improving the value capture from mobile inventors. Our findings in the micro-electronics field illustrate the importance of jointly accounting for firm and inventor level industry-science links to assess their effectiveness and provides evidence on complementarity from using both. Furthermore, identifying the scientific nature of the technology projects critically determines whether the combination of these links allow to capture more value.     

HUMAN QUALITIES NECESSARY FOR INVENTION: INDEPENDENT INVENTORS AND THE STIMULUS OF ADVERSITY

Inasmuch as the efforts of independent inventors are appreciated at all, it is commonly argued that greater benefit would ensue from their inventions if the inventors possessed a more realistic understanding of the innovative process, and if the world were generally more sympathetic. There is sense in this view, but perhaps some consideration should be given to the impact such changes might have on the essential creativity of the independent inventor. It seems likely that this creativity is in part a product of adversity and might well be extinguished if conditions were made more conducive to the activities of the independent inventor.     

Aspirations of Indian inventors moderated by patenting experience,age and sector

In this hyper-competitive era, patents are an essential input to realizing sustainable competitive advantage. However, individual differences exist in patenting filing behavior and behaviors related to commercialization of patents. This study explores these behaviors in the context of three demographic variables. The demographic variables are patenting and commercialization experiences of inventors, age and sector. Further, aspirations of these inventors are assessed using external motivators of wealth, fame, and concern for societal welfare, and internal motivators such as pragmatism. The findings of this empirical study (n = 116) suggest that sector and age determine differences in personal internal motivators more than patent commercialization experience. Implications of the study are discussed.