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on Innovation |
| By: | Taras Hrendash |
| Abstract: | Patents play an important role in facilitating transfers of knowledge, and enable commercialization of innovative ideas by reducing information asymmetry between potential buyers and sellers on the market for technology. The crucial question, however, is how quickly innovative ideas can be patented. Previous research has shown that the probability of commercialization for pending applications peaks immediately after the patent allowance event (Gans, Hsu & Stern, 2008). But does the length of pendency of an application at a patent office also affect the overall saleability of a technology and create some frictions on the market for technology? In this paper, we exploit the introduction of the USPTO’s Prioritized Examination (Track One) Program to capture the impact of shortened pendency on the likelihood that a pending or granted patent will be commercialized via the transfer of property rights. Using the difference-in-differences approach, we compare the average saleability of patents, which we assign into three groups according to their predicted propensity for prioritization before and after the program start date. We find that introduction of the Track One program has significantly increased the probability of commercial reassignment of applications that were more likely to be prioritized. Our results suggest that the policy implemented by the USPTO and shortened pendency of applications, in general, may reduce frictions on the market for technology and facilitate commercialization of innovations. |
| Keywords: | experimental economics; government transfers; |
| JEL: | O32 O34 O38 |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp638&r=all |
| By: | Justus Baron; Cher Li; Shukhrat Nasirov |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the determinants of participation of R&D-intensive firms in standards development. Using data on R&D spending, patent, and trademark activities of the world's largest corporate R&D investors and their membership of standards organizations, we find a highly robust positive association between a firm's R&D spending and its participation in standards development. However, the causal effect of R&D spending on membership of standards organizations is conditional upon the firm's patent and/or product-market position, and varies across different types of standards organizations. More specifically, a strong patent position amplifies the effect of R&D spending on participation in standards-developing organizations, while a strong product-market position strengthens the impact of R&D spending on participation in the organizations that promote established standards. Finally, we also show that policy changes that increase the value of patents, such as variations in the preferential tax treatment of patent-related revenue, induce R&D-intensive firms to intensify their participation in standards organizations. |
| Keywords: | standards organizations, R&D expenditure, patents, trademarks |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:not:notgep:2019-16&r=all |
| By: | Teodora Borota; Fabrice Defever; Giammario Impullitti |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we document large heterogeneity in innovation policy and performance between old and new EU member states, and present firm-level evidence on the close link between foreign direct investment (FDI) spillovers and eastern European firms' innovation. Guided by these facts and motivated by the pressing debate on further EU integration, we build a two-region endogenous growth model to analyse the gains from innovation policy cooperation in an economic union. The two regions, the West (the old members) and the East (the new post-2004 members), feature firms competing in innovation for market leadership, are integrated via free trade and costly technology transfer via FDI and have different innovation performance and policy. Calibrating the model to reproduce key features of the EU economy, we compare the outcomes of an East-West R&D subsidy war with a coop- eration scenario with unified subsidy across regions, and obtain three main results. First,we find that the dynamic gains spurring from the impact of cooperation on the economy's growth rate are sizable and substantially larger than the static gains obtained internalising the strategic motive for subsidies. Second, our model suggests that the presence of FDI and multinational production alleviates the strategic motive and increases the gains from cooperation. Third, separating FDI and innovation policy generates larger gains from cooperation, a policy complementarity driven by the knowledge spillovers carried by FDI. |
| Keywords: | Optimal innovation policy, growth theory, international policy coordination, EU integration, FDI spillovers. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:not:notgep:2019-14&r=all |
| By: | Inga Ivanova (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Oivind Strand (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Loet Leydesdorff (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The innovation capacity of Norwegian innovation system, according Triple Helix model of innovations approach, is analyzed in terms of mutual information among geographical, sectorial, and size distributions of firms as dimensions of probabilistic entropy. Negative entropies can be considered as a consequence of synergy among these dimensions. Three different techniques for evaluation of temporal synergy evolution are used: R/S analysis, DFT, and geographical synergy decomposition. The calculations are based on data for all Norwegian firms registered between 2002 and 2014. The results suggest that the synergy at the level of both the country and its seven regions show non-chaotic oscillatory behavior and resonate in a set of natural frequencies. |
| Keywords: | knowledge base, innovations, triple helix, cyclic processes |
| JEL: | O10 O30 R11 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:98sti2019&r=all |
| By: | Vera Zipperer |
| Abstract: | This paper provides first empirical insights on the relationship between green public procurement (GPP) and firms' innovation activities. Considering that the public sector is a large buyer in the economy, public procurement is able to work as demand-pull factor for new products and thus innovations - given that the procurement is aimed at such objectives. GPP is specifically implemented to contribute to more sustainable production and consumption. Using a novel firm-level dataset, this paper analyses whether GPP is able to trigger innovation activities within firms, and if so, whether these innovations are environmental innovations or not. The results show some support for a demand-pull effect of GPP on the probability of general product innovations but no conclusive evidence is found for environmental innovations. |
| Keywords: | Green public procurement, Innovation, Demand-pull, Community innovation survey |
| JEL: | H57 O38 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1820&r=all |
| By: | Mathias Beck (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Martin Junge (Ministry of Higher Education and Science, Copenhagen, Denmark); Ulrich Kaiser (University of Zurich Department of Business Administration Chair for Entrepreneurship) |
| Abstract: | We review and condense the body of literature on the economic returns of public R&D on private R&D and find that: (i) private returns to R&D appear to be large and larger than the returns to alternative investments; (ii) private R&D and R&D subsidies are positively correlated and there is no evidence for crowding out; (iii) R&D cooperation increases private R&D; (iv) there appear to exist complementarities between alternative sources of funding; (v) the mobility of R&D workers, particularly of university scientists, is positively related to innovation; (vi) there are many university spin-offs but these are no more successful than non-university spin-offs; (vii) universities constitute important collaboration partners and (viii) clusters enhance collaboration, patents and productivity. Key problems for economic policy advice are that the identification of causal effects is problematic in most studies and that little is known about the optimal design of policy measures. |
| Keywords: | Keywords: R&D subsidies, R&D tax credits, cooperation, labor mobility, returns to R&D, university spin-offs, R&D clusters, public-private knowledge transfer |
| JEL: | C54 J6 I28 O3 L52 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:18-437&r=all |
| By: | Ganglmair, Bernhard; Reimers, Imke |
| Abstract: | We use exogenous variation in the strength of trade secrets protection to show that a relative weakening of patents (compared to trade secrets) has a disproportionately negative effect on the disclosure of processes - inventions that are not otherwise visible to society. We develop a structural model of initial and follow-on innovation to determine the effects of such a shift in disclosure on overall welfare in industries characterized by cumulative innovation. We find that while stronger trade secrets encourage investment in R&D, they may have negative e ects on overall welfare - the result of a significant decline in follow-on innovation. |
| Keywords: | cumulative innovation,disclosure,self-disclosing inventions,Uniform Trade Secrets Act |
| JEL: | D80 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:19035&r=all |
| By: | Michael Roach; Henry Sauermann; John Skrentny |
| Abstract: | Prior research has shown that immigrants make important contributions to US innovation and are more likely than natives to become entrepreneurs. However, there is little evidence on how foreign and native high-skilled workers differ prior to entering the workforce. Moreover, little attention has been paid to distinguishing between founders and employees who join startups. We draw on a longitudinal survey of over 5,600 foreign and native STEM PhD students at U.S. research universities to examine entrepreneurial characteristics and career preferences prior to graduation, as well as founding and employment outcomes after graduation. First, we find that foreign PhD students differ from native PhD students with respect to individual characteristics typically associated with entrepreneurship such as risk tolerance, a preference for autonomy, and interest in commercialization. Second, foreign PhD students are more likely to express intentions to become a founder or a startup employee prior to graduation. Third, despite their entrepreneurial career interests, foreign PhDs are less likely to become founders or startup employees in their first industry job after graduation. These patterns call for future research on factors that enable or constrain foreign STEM workers from realizing their entrepreneurial career aspirations. |
| JEL: | I23 J0 J24 J44 J48 O3 |
| Date: | 2019–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26225&r=all |
| By: | Mar, M.; Massard, N. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effectiveness of the French competitiveness cluster policy on participating SMEs in terms of innovation and economic performance. Using an original dataset, we construct different measures of treatment with crossover designs. The findings indicate substantial additionality effects on R&D and employment and weak or insignificant effects on other types of economic performance. While only adhering to clusters induces much stronger positive impacts on SMEs than only participating in R&D collaborative projects, the policy is most effective when the two treatments are simultaneously used. To achieve its impact on SMEs, the cluster policy should not overlook low-cost instruments such as animation actions and common services. |
| Keywords: | CLUSTER POLICY;MULTIPLE TREATMENTS;SMEs;POLICY EVALUATION;CONDITIONAL DIFFERENCE-IN-DIFFERENCE |
| JEL: | C14 C21 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gbl:wpaper:2019-03&r=all |
| By: | Fortuna Casoria (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - Université de Lyon - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Marianna Marino (SKEMA Business School - Université Côte d'Azur); Pierpaolo Parrotta (IESEG - UCL - Université catholique de Lille); Davide Sala (Universität Passau [Passau]) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the effect of decentralization on innovation at the provincial level in Italy. We exploit quasi-natural experiments associated with three waves of reforms occurred in 1992, 2001 and 2004, to establish 8, 4, and 3 new provinces, respectively. Using a difference-indifference estimation approach, we find evidence of a significant detrimental effect of (further) decentralization on innovation for Northern and Central Italian provinces. We suggest a potential mechanism that may explain the reduction in innovation associated with the aforementioned reforms. We argue that this finding can be rationalized with the costs imposed by the \mafia transplantation" phenomenon, as we find that the new provinces that were more exposed to \mafiosi in confino" reduced their innovation output more extensively. We perform a number of robustness checks that corroborate our main findings. |
| Keywords: | local government,decentralization,innovation,mafia transplantation,difference-in-difference |
| Date: | 2019–09–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-02278092&r=all |
| By: | Gonzalez-Uribe, Juanita; Leatherbee, Michael |
| Abstract: | Do business accelerators affect new venture performance? We investigate this question in the context of Start-Up Chile, an ecosystem accelerator. We focus on two treatment conditions typically found in business accelerators: basic services of funding and coworking space, and additional entrepreneurship schooling. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show that schooling bundled with basic services can significantly increase new venture performance. In contrast, we find no evidence that basic services affect performance on their own. Our results are most relevant for ecosystem accelerators that attract young and early-stage businesses and suggest that entrepreneurial capital matters in new ventures. |
| JEL: | N0 R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2018–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:84553&r=all |
| By: | Emanuele Pugliese; Lorenzo Napolitano; Matteo Chinazzi; Guido Chiarotti |
| Abstract: | We define a novel quantitative strategy inspired by the ecological notion of nestedness to single out the scale at which innovation complexity emerges from the aggregation of specialized building blocks. Our analysis not only suggests that the innovation space can be interpreted as a natural system in which advantageous capabilities are selected by evolutionary pressure, but also that the emerging structure of capabilities is not independent of the scale of observation at which they are observed. Expanding on this insight allows us to understand whether the capabilities characterizing the innovation space at a given scale are compatible with a complex evolutionary dynamics or, rather, a set of essentially independent activities allowing to reduce the system at that scale to a set of disjoint non interacting sub-systems. This yields a measure of the innovation complexity of the system, i.e. of the degree of interdependence between the sets of capabilities underlying the system's building blocks. |
| Date: | 2019–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1909.05604&r=all |