SMEs and patents: Is it worth it? A longitudinal analysis of the patent-performance relationship

In response to scepticism about the benefits of patenting in small firms, this paper provides new evidence on the relationship between financial performance in SMEs and patents, distinguishing between applications and granted patents. Empirical analyses show that firms with a patent application still pending five years after the filing date report higher sales than comparable firms who have not filed. Yet, we also find that the monopoly rights attached to granted patents do not result in higher sales than simply filing for a patent. This analysis leads us to infer that the activities performed during the patent application process improve firm knowledge stocks and absorptive capacity, in turn promoting performance above and beyond the status quo. SME managers should find in this study solid empirical evidence supporting well-informed decision-making over patenting

Patents and small business risk: longitudinal evidence from the global financial crisis

Purpose The purpose of this study is to shed light on the relationship between patent applications and long-term risk for small firms across the global financial crisis of 2008. During a crisis, firm risk often skyrockets, and small and medium enterprises face significant dangers to their business continuity. However, managers have a set of strategies that could be implemented to increase a firm's resilience, sustaining competitive advantages and improving access to financial resource. The authors focused on the investigating the impact of patenting activities on small business risk in a time of crisis. Design/methodology/approach This is a quantitative study based on a sample of Italian firms that applied for a patent in 2005. The changes in corporate credit ratings over a five-year period are related to different proxies of patent activity using multivariate regression analysis. Findings Firms that filed for a patent were more resilient, compared to the control sample, during the financial crisis. Innovative activities resulting in patent application seem to deliver strategic resources useful to tackle the crisis rather than increase riskiness. The moderating effect of patents on risk sensitivity is stronger for small firms and when the number of patents or the patent intensity is larger. Originality/value Limited evidence is available on how patent applications are related to risks for small firms during an economic crisis. The authors highlight that the innovative efforts resulting in patent applications can support small business resilience. The authors also point out that the implementation of patent information in small firms' credit score modeling is still an uncommon practice, while it is useful in estimating firm risk in a way more robust to exogenous credit shocks

Board of Directors' characteristics and environmental SDGs adoption: an international study

Drivers of environmentally conscious firm behaviour have gained increasing attention over past decades. The Board of Directors holds a central role in corporate decision-making, and previous empirical evidence suggests that its characteristics could influence corporate environmental performance. This paper contributes to the literature with the first evidence of the influence certain board characteristics have on whether a firm ultimately supports one or more environmental SDGs. Our focus is on board size, gender diversity, board independence and CEO duality. Logistic and fractional regressions on 4417 globally listed firms highlight that board size, the share of female directors, and the share of independent directors are significant drivers of support for environmental SDGs. The results and insights revealed in this study should be helpful to policymakers, investors and corporations in evaluating the effectiveness of corporate governance characteristics and fostering corporate contributions to the 2030 Agenda

Flood Risk Assessment in Urban Areas: The Historic City Centre of Aveiro as a Case Study

Floods are among the most frequent and widespread natural hazards worldwide, with historic buildings proving to be particularly vulnerable. This work focuses on the large-scale flood risk assessment of the Historic City Center of Aveiro in Portugal. Due to the system of canals passing through the center and the extreme proximity to a lagoon, Aveiro is extremely prone to flooding. Furthermore, considering the great historical and artistic value the city center retains, its selection as a case study for flood risk assessment is fully supported. The work implements a recently developed methodology, combining hazard and physical vulnerability indicators to classify risk and define intervention priorities. Subsequent to an extensive survey and evaluation of almost 500 buildings, the raw data collected was classified using the Geographic Information System (GIS) tool. Through the macro-scale risk assessment, an essential insight is provided into the way each building is affected by flood events and, based on this knowledge, strategic rehabilitation interventions can be prioritized. To validate results, the work proposes a comparison with an analogous case study, and finally reflects upon the effective risk management and mitigation proposals as well as possible adaptations of the methodology for future applications

Association between polymorphisms of TAS2R16 and susceptibility to colorectal cancer

Background: Genetics plays an important role in the susceptibility to sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC). In the last 10 years genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified over 40 independent low penetrance polymorphic variants. However, these loci only explain around 1‑4% of CRC heritability, highlighting the dire need of identifying novel risk loci. In this study, we focused our attention on the genetic variability of the TAS2R16 gene, encoding for one of the bitter taste receptors that selectively binds to salicin, a natural antipyretic that resembles aspirin. Given the importance of inflammation in CRC, we tested whether polymorphic variants in this gene could affect the risk of developing this neoplasia hypothesizing a role of TAS2R16 in modulating chronic inflammation within the gut. Methods: We performed an association study using 6 tagging SNPs, (rs860170, rs978739, rs1357949, rs1525489, rs6466849, rs10268496) that cover all TAS2R16 genetic variability. The study was carried out on 1902 CRC cases and 1532 control individuals from four European countries. Results: We did not find any statistically significant association between risk of developing CRC and selected SNPs. However, after stratification by histology (colon vs. rectum) we found that rs1525489 was associated with increased risk of rectal cancer with a (Ptrend of = 0.0071). Conclusions: Our data suggest that polymorphisms within TAS2R16 gene do not have a strong influence on colon cancer susceptibility, but a possible role in rectal cancer should be further evaluated in larger cohorts

Association between polymorphisms of TAS2R16 and susceptibility to colorectal cancer

Background: genetics plays an important role in the susceptibility to sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC). In the last 10 years genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified over 40 independent low penetrance polymorphic variants. However, these loci only explain around 1‑4% of CRC heritability, highlighting the dire need of identifying novel risk loci. In this study, we focused our attention on the genetic variability of the TAS2R16 gene, encoding for one of the bitter taste receptors that selectively binds to salicin, a natural antipyretic that resembles aspirin. Given the importance of inflammation in CRC, we tested whether polymorphic variants in this gene could affect the risk of developing this neoplasia hypothesizing a role of TAS2R16 in modulating chronic inflammation within the gut. Methods: we performed an association study using 6 tagging SNPs, (rs860170, rs978739, rs1357949, rs1525489, rs6466849, rs10268496) that cover all TAS2R16 genetic variability. The study was carried out on 1902 CRC cases and 1532 control individuals from four European countries. Results: we did not find any statistically significant association between risk of developing CRC and selected SNPs. However, after stratification by histology (colon vs. rectum) we found that rs1525489 was associated with increased risk of rectal cancer with a (Ptrend of = 0.0071). Conclusions: our data suggest that polymorphisms within TAS2R16 gene do not have a strong influence on colon cancer susceptibility, but a possible role in rectal cancer should be further evaluated in larger cohorts

mRNA PGC-1α levels in blood samples reliably correlates with its myocardial expression: study in patients undergoing cardiac surgery

et al.[Objective]: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) is a transcriptional coactivator that has been proposed to play a protective role in mouse models of cardiac ischemia and heart failure, suggesting that PGC-1α could be relevant as a prognostic marker. Our previous studies showed that the estimation of peripheral mRNA PGC-1α expression was feasible and that its induction correlated with the extent of myocardial necrosis and left ventricular remodeling in patients with myocardial infarction. In this study, we sought to determine if the myocardial and peripheral expressions of PGC-1α are well correlated and to analyze the variability of PGC-1α expression depending on the prevalence of some metabolic disorders. [Methods]: This was a cohort of 35 consecutive stable heart failure patients with severe aortic stenosis who underwent an elective aortic valve replacement surgery. mRNA PGC-1α expression was simultaneously determined from myocardial biopsy specimens and blood samples obtained during surgery by quantitative PCR, and a correlation between samples was made using the Kappa index. Patients were divided into two groups according to the detection of baseline expression levels of PGC-1α in blood samples, and comparisons between both groups were made by chi-square test or unpaired Student’s t-test as appropriate. [Results]: Based on myocardial biopsies, we found that mRNA PGC-1α expression in blood samples showed a statistically significant correlation with myocardial expression (Kappa index 0.66, p<0.001). The presence of higher systemic PGC-1α expression was associated with a greater expression of some target genes such as silent information regulator 2 homolog-1 (x-fold expression in blood samples: 4.43±5.22 vs. 1.09±0.14, p=0.044) and better antioxidant status in these patients (concentration of Trolox: 0.40±0.05 vs. 0.34±0.65, p=0.006). [Conclusions]: Most patients with higher peripheral expression also had increased myocardial expression, so we conclude that the non-invasive estimation of mRNA PGC-1α expression from blood samples provides a good approach of the constitutive status of the mitochondrial protection system regulated by PGC-1α and that this could be used as prognostic indicator in cardiovascular disease.Grant from Sociedad Valenciana de Cardiología, 2013 to Óscar Fabregat-Andrés.Peer Reviewe

Association between polymorphisms of TAS2R16 gene and susceptibility to Colorectal cancer

ABSTRACT Taste receptors are encoded by highly polymorphic gene families. In the past years, several evidences have shown that they are not only involved in the perception of taste. TASs genes were found to be expressed in other organs such as the colon, stomach, pancreas, brain, lung and testis in which they perform different functions. Multiple epidemiological and molecular evidences have highlighted the role of genetic polymorphisms and in particular of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in receptor function. Apart from taste perception SNPs in these genes are also associated with other phenotypes such as diabetes, alcohol consumption, nicotine addiction, and BMI others. Some of these parameters appear among the risk factors for colorectal cancer (CRC). In Europe, the sporadic form of CRC is the second for both incidence and mortality. For CRC multiple risk factors have been identified, among them genetics, lifestyles habits such as cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, consumption of red meat and some predisposing conditions such as chronic inflammation, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The first aim of this study was to find a possible association between polymorphisms of the TAS2R16 gene and CRC development and as second aim to detect a possible association between CRC risk factors and polymorphisms. The TAS2R16 gene binds with salicin, a molecule similar to aspirin that is used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. In order to perform a case-control study we selected and genotyped 6 polymorphisms of TAS2R16 in 3882 individuals from 4 different European countries (Czech Republic, Lithuania, Italy and Spain). Statistical analysis did not show a direct association between polymorphisms and CRC risk, the signal closest to the significance threshold of P<0.05 was observed for rs1525489 with a p-value of 0.084. Regarding diabetes, we have found an association for the same polymorphism associated with CRC risk (rs1525489). However the diabetogenic allele is associated with decreased CRC risk suggesting that if the SNP has a role in CRC it is T2D independent. We analyzed also the association between TAS2R16 SNPs and alcohol consumption, observing a statistically significant association for the C allele of rs860170 and the allele G of rs1357949 and increased alcohol consumption. Finally, we also observed a positive correlation between the G allele of rs10268496 and BMI. In conclusion, our data suggest that polymorphisms of the TAS2R16 gene do not have a direct correlation between with susceptibility to CRC. However, we propose here some potentially interesting associations between the gene variants and life style habits

Do Patents Affect SMEs’ Performance? A Counterfactual Analysis

This study analyses the causal effect between innovation and performance on a sample of about 5.000 Italian SMEs. Results of studies on the effects of innovation on SMEs performance are controversial: even if several studies find a positive relationship, restricting the analysis to small and medium firms previous literature does not find a clear correlation between patents and SMEs performance. Using patents as a proxy of innovative activity, we aim at providing further evidence on this topic analysing a large sample of firms. We investigate the firms’ dynamics after the filing date taking into consideration return on assets, sales growth and operating profit margin as proxies for firms’ performance. In particular, we combine two econometric methodologies in order to reduce the risk of biased results. We select a control sample through a propensity score matching, and on these two groups we perform a difference-in-differences analysis. We also take into account firm size, ownership, and the effort to co-patent with other firms and university as moderating factors of the link between innovation and performance. Our preliminary results reveal a positive relationship between patents and firm growth, but an insignificant effect on profit margins. The collaborative effort in patenting does not seem related to specific patterns in firm dynamics when compared to other innovative firms

Forsake not an old friend: prior co-investments and the performance of European venture capital syndicates.

Co-investing in a venture capital syndicate with known partners is a common practice that has recently attracted much attention by academic literature. Existing studies explore the relation-ship between prior co-investments and syndicate performance but are exclusively focused on US data. However, the profound differences between US and European venture capital ecosys-tems hint that the results obtained for the former are not necessarily true for the latter. We adopt an agency perspective, proposing that prior ties in European venture capital syndicates are nega-tively correlated to the likelihood of a successful exit. To test our hypothesis, we collect a unique dataset of 922 first-ever syndicated rounds happening in Europe between 2000 and 2009, tracing back co-investments since 1995. Contrarily to what emerges for US firms, we find that prior co-investments are not a significant determinant of successful exits. In addition, we dis-cuss the role of prior ties in determining the time to successful exit, focusing on the multiple agency relationships inside a syndicate and proposing that this relationship is U-shaped. We find significant evidence supporting our hypothesis, with additional prior co-investments reduc-ing the time to exit up to 4.5 average previous co-investments per syndicate member, after which we observe an increase in the time necessary to exit the investment successfully. Our re-sults provide a first investigation on the role of prior ties in European venture capital syndicates and first evidence of the effect of prior ties on the time to exit successful investments. These re-sults can be useful to managers involved in interorganizational collaboration and to policymak-ers that must develop strategies to spur regional venture capital ecosystems