| Abstract: |
Innovation and exports are closely related concepts that are frequently
explored in the academic literature, particularly in the fields of economics,
business strategy, and intellectual property management. The purpose of this
paper is to explore these concepts via two complementary approaches. First,
while the relationship between innovation and exports is well established, the
specific contributions of different stages of innovation remain underexplored.
We therefore use the principle of relatedness and examine how different stages
of innovation—namely technology, market, and design activities—are related to
export specialisation. The results show that technology- and market-related
capabilities serve as key drivers of new export specialisation. Second, we
conducted an in-depth survey of Greek inventors with the aim to identify the
motives, challenges and opportunities they face throughout the complex process
of patenting and valorisation. The study reveals significant differences in
the patenting motivations of Greek inventors according to their affiliation.
Independent inventors and university-affiliated researchers see patents
primarily as tools for commercialisation, exploiting them through licensing or
sales. In contrast, large companies focus on strategic patenting to protect
products and block competitors. |