Dulling the Cutting Edge: How Patent-Related Policies and Practices Hamper Innovation in China

This study’s statistical analysis shows that patent quality and innovation in China deserve improvement, and an in-depth legal, management science, and economic analysis in the study shows that various patent-related policies and practices actually hamper patent quality and innovation in China. Over 50 recommendations for reform are provided. The study is divided into four chapters, summaries of which are as follows: Chapter 1: Although China became the world leader in quantity of domestically filed patent applications in 2011, the quality of these patents needs improvement. Also, while certain innovation in China is rising, the country’s actual innovation appears overhyped by some sources. Chapter 2: There appears to be an overly heavy focus on government-set quantitative patent targets in China, which can hamper patent quality and innovation. This overemphasis involves over 10 national-level and over 150 municipal/provincial quantitative patent targets, mostly to be met by 2015, which are also linked to performance evaluations for SoEs, Party officials and government ministries, universities and research institutes, and other entities. Chapter 3: China has a wide-range of other policies, many of which are at least partially meant to encourage patents, that can actually discourage quality patents, and highest-quality patents in particular, and innovation. Examples of these policies include a variety of measures with requirements for “indigenous intellectual property rights” that are linked to financial incentives (many of which are unrelated to government procurement); a range of other government-provided financial incentives for patent development (e.g. certain patent filing subsidies); inappropriate inventor remuneration rules; discriminatory standardisation approaches; and a wide range of others. Chapter 4: There are a host of concerns surrounding rules and procedures for patent application review and those for enforcement of patent disputes that can hamper building of quality patents and innovation in China. These include concerns about abuse of patent rights, difficulties invalidating utility models, and a wide range of other issues

INDIAN VENTURE CAPITALISTS (VCs) INVESTMENT EVALUATION CRITERIA

The Venture capital (VC) industry in India is of recent origin. However, the average investment value of each deal in India have grown from $3.85 million in 2000 to$7.89 million in 2001.These developments together with the recent steps taken by government to promote venture capitalism in India provide an opportunity for an examination of venture capital industry in India. This paper analyses the validity of venture evaluation model in India by directly comparing the relative importance of evaluation criteria on the funding decision with the relative importance to factors influencing venture's empirical performance. In the light of the differences in investment opportunities around India, and the nature of industrial development in South East Asia in general, the author anticipated that the investment criteria employed by Venture Capital Firms (VCs) in India would differ. A questionnaire was administered to venture capitalists (regular members of Indian Venture Capital Association) to determine the criteria they use to decide on funding new ventures. The response rate was 100%. A list of forty two criteria was developed on previously developed lists. The criteria fell into six groups: the entrepreneur’s personality, the entrepreneur’s experience, characteristics of the product or service, characteristics of the market, financial consideration and characteristics of venture management team. Answers were given on a four point rating scales. The results reveal that criteria adopted by Indian VCs are different from those adopted by VCs in other countries including US. The results also confirm that the entrepreneur’s personality and experience are seen as being primary indicators of the venture’s potential.India, Venture, Capital, Vanture Capital, Criteria, VCs, VCCs, VCFs, Venture Capitalists

SOLUTIONS TO PROMOTE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN VIETNAM

Entrepreneurship has been enlightened by the natural law of economic development, stemming from Vietnamese people's creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. But it cannot be "locked" due to the lack of necessary nudges, which are financial and credit instruments. Some foreign investment funds have grasped this trend and implemented very successful premium investment services, creating big names in the Vietnamese market. In recent years, the State has gradually recognized several major roles of small and medium-sized private enterprises in general and entrepreneurship in particular for economic development. To promote strong and sustainable development, the State needs to develop appropriate policies and legal regulations quickly. At the same time, there are specific programs to help form and create new businesses, including, most importantly, establishing financial mechanisms to participate with private investment in startups, according to the model that many countries have done very well. Therefore, students propose to research the topic of "solutions to promote innovative entrepreneurship in the field of Information technology in Vietnam". Keywords: Information technology, Science and Technology, Startups

Marshallian Agglomeration Economies and Entrepreneurship: The Spanish Case

This paper analyzes to what extent marshallian agglomeration economies affect the creation of new entrepreneurial ventures at the metropolitan level. The measuring of agglomeration economies is based on the construction of indexes using the methodology of Glaeser and Kerr (2009). The indexes attempt to capture the effects of resource sharing, labor matching and knowledge spillovers according to the taxonomy proposed by Marshall (1920). Also an index to measure the influence of small suppliers to attract new business ventures, following Chinitz (1961), is constructed. Data on new firms and employment generated is accounted for the period 2000-2008. The analysis is based on the activity of the 15 largest metropolitan areas in Spain. Sixty two-digit industries (CNAE-93) are considered. The results show that jobs created by entrepreneurs are highly influenced by the ability to share suppliers and customers. Firm creation is influenced by those factors as well as the presence of small suppliers and the proximity to innovative activity. Agglomeration indexes with sector and city fixed effects explain more than 90% of new entry and employment generated. The potential multicollinearity among indexes is tested using principal component analysis. This analysis shows some complementarities among the indexes. New regressions using the factorized terms show that traditional measures of localization economies hide specific information about the process of agglomeration.

The economic meaning of ‘intangible capital’ (according to World Bank research)

In the following article, it will be proven on the basis of correlation analysis that ‘intangible capital,’ interpreted by the World Bank as both human capital and the quality of the institutions supporting economic activity, in fact represents the actual capacities of a given country to export non-commodity goods. The significant amount of ‘intangible capital’ found in highly developed countries lies in sharp contrast to the relatively smaller amount found in Russia; explained by its colonial-type trade system and the multiplier effect of added value.intangible capital; national wealth; added value; unequal exchange; export of raw materials

Sources of Output Growth of the ICT Sector in Vietnam

Vietnam has early set the strategy to develop ICT as the enabler for social-economic development and the Vietnamese ICT sector has grown significantly over the past 20 years. This paper analyses the development of the ICT sector by examining the sources of output growth and the structural changes in two periods of 2007-2012 and 2012-2016. The decomposition results show that the growth of the ICT manufacturing sector is attributed to export in both periods. However, the ICT manufacturing export was mainly based on components import; the sector neither could make any technological progress nor could manufacture products for import substitution. The ICT media and content sector’s growth was primarily due to technology advancement in 2007-2012 which led to the household demand-based development in the period 2012-2016. The ICT services sector shifted from primarily served government to household demand while technology was also significantly improved. The results of decomposition analysis are consistent with the macroeconomic situation as well as the ICT policies that the Vietnamese government has implemented over the past years. The paper points out the achievements and limitations in the ICT development policies and suggests directions for ICT policymakers in Vietnam in the coming period

Are the motivational preferences of employees working in small enterprises in Slovakia changing in time?

Small and medium-sized enterprises constitute a significant part of Slovakia's economy with the greatest potential for growth and the impact on economic stabilization and balanced development of the regions. The employee motivation has a major impact on the performance of employees working in these businesses. Research focused on the exploration of employee motivational preferences was conducted in all regions of Slovakia in 2017 and 2018. The sociological survey method was used through anonymous questionnaires. Overall, 2,646 respondents participated in the research. Based on the research results, it can be stated, that motivational preferences of employees working in small enterprises in Slovakia are changing over time. These are primarily motivational factors relating to the social needs and financial motivational factors.VEGA [1/0024/17, 1/0320/17]; [APVV 16-0297