1. Science and Technology Policy I Do Patents Reflect the Useful Research Output of Universities? João Silva Ricardo Manso SPRU Electronic Working Papers Series Paper No 6 – 1997 Keith Pavitt

2. 2 Summary Patents granted to universities give a very partial and distorted picture of the contribution of university research to technical change; Citations in patents to published research are one of the most valid contributions of university research to technical change;

3. 3 What is a Patent Temporary monopoly on an invention in exchange for the publication of its details; Reconciliation between the interests of inventors, profit from the invention, with the interests of society, to have access to the information; Exclusive right to the owner to manufacture, market, or exploit for gain the invention claimed in the patent; Prohibits the import of protected products from countries in which the invention has not yet been patented;

4. 4 Patent Application Patents have been mostly awarded to business firms, with the remaining being granted to individuals, many of whom turn out to be owners of SME; Large firms predominate in science-based sectors, like chemicals, and electric-electronics. This reflects the common activities carried out in R&D laboratories; SME predominate in non-electrical machinery, measuring and control instruments. This reflects the skills on design activities frequently held by SME;

5. 5 Patenting Information A source to learn about trends in technical change; A means to analyse technical change by its: –Nature; –Source; –Socio-economic effects;

6. 6 Patenting Information Advances on IT have vastly reduced the cost of accessing and manipulating patenting information; IT has also facilitated improvements in measurement and analysis of patent protection processes;

7. 7 Effectiveness of Patenting European entities value patent protection more than their US counterparts; The effectiveness of patent protection is very similar in Europe and in the US; Patents are considered to be more effective in protecting product innovations than process innovations in most sectors;

8. 8 Effectiveness of Patenting Inter-Industry differences in the effectiveness of patent protection

9. 9 Patenting Activity in Universities Number of patents attributed to universities is much less than their share of R&D funding (17% in OECD); In 1990 only 5% of total US patents was attributable to US universities; Patenting protection from US universities was mostly in the fields of chemistry, drugs and medicine (60-65%);

10. 10 Patenting Activity in Universities Patents reflect the indirect contribution of university research by underestimating the contribution to practical applications; Universities provide underlying knowledge skills and techniques that help firms to solve more complex and demanding problems;

11. 11 Patenting Activity in Universities Business firms concentrate on developing and testing specific innovation and artefacts; The small contribution to patenting activity from universities thus reflect a distrinct role in the process of technical change;

12. 12 Patenting Barriers Patenting of university research implies the privatisation of public knowledge, which is considered to be economically eneficient; Increased emphasis on patenting by universities can distort or diminish other more useful activities;

13. 13 Patent Citations To prove their novelty, patent applications must show their awareness of earlier inventions and discoveries; Patents in several domains depend strongly on the knowledge published in contemporaneous scientific papers; The evidence of inventions building on previous knowledge usually comes through the form of citations;

14. 14 Patent Citations Each US patent cites, on average, ten earlier patents, one science jornal and one other source; 73% of the papers cited by US industry patents are public science, authored at academic, govermental and other public institutions; Analysis of patent citations to research journals can offer rich insights into the contribution of academic research to pratical applications;

15. 15 Patent Citations Patent examiners usually refer what are the most important citations to which the invention builds; Citations have been loaded into databases, thus becoming a rich source of information and analysis of knowledge;

16. 16 Patent Citations Citation information can be used both to: –Understand more deeply the characteristics of the academic research results cited in patents; –Compare numbers of patent citations within fields and amongst institutions;

17. 17 Conclusion Patenting information should not be used to make comparisons between fields or institutions; Patenting information underestimates the contribution of university research to practical applications; Citations in patents to published papers provide a detailed picture of the direct contribution of academic research to technical change; Given their relative importance, citations should not be used to make comparisons amongst fields of academic science and engineering;

18. 18 Conclusion Universities provide underlying knowledge skills and techniques that help firms to solve more complex and demanding problems; Useful published research tends to be publicly funded, national and high quality;

19. 19 Annex I

20. 20 Annex II

21. 21 Annex III

22. 22 Annex IV

23. Cheers! joao.silva@networkcontacto.com ricardo_manso@hp.com