THE IMPACT OF REGULATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW PRODUCTS IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY

Paper prepared for presentation at the 8th ICABR International Conference on Agricultural Biotechnology: International Trade and Domestic Production Ravello (Italy), July 8 to 11th, 2004Food industry, Regulation, Innovation, Biotechnology, Organic food, Functional Food, European Union, United States, Industrial Organization, L5, L66, O32,

Catalytic Functions of Standards

The three different areas and the examples have illustrated several catalytic functions of standards for innovation. First, the standardisation process reduces the time to market of inventions, research results and innovative technologies. Second, standards themselves promote the diffusion of innovative products, which is most important for the economic impact of innovation. A third more indirect, but important function of standards is that they level the playing field and therefore promote competition and consequently innovation. Fourth, compatibility standards are the basis for innovation in network industries e.g. for communication networks (e.g. GSM), which are increasingly penetrating our economies. In network industries, standards also facilitate the substitution of old technologies by new ones, e.g. by forward and backward compatibility, and also to allow the coexistence of old and new technologies. New platform standards are often the basis for innovation in downstream markets (e.g. GSM as platform for numerous mobile services), but also in upstream markets. Besides these network related functions, a generic characteristic of standards is that they reflect user needs and therefore promote the purchase, i.e. the diffusion, of new products by early adopters. Finally, standards set the minimum requirements for environmental, health and safety aspects and consequently promote trust especially in innovative products. Despite all these catalytic functions of standards for innovation, there are also shortcomings and problems. First, standards are the outcome of a consensus process of all interested parties and consequently represent the smallest denominator, which is often not a strong incentive for innovation activities, compared to more challenging technological specifications possibly set by governmental top-down regulations. Second, standards which are technology-specific and over-prescriptive instead of technologyneutral and focused on functionalities and performance characteristics do not create leeway and competitive incentives for alternative innovative solutions. Third, standards can also create lock-ins in existing technologies, especially if they do not specify interfaces or allow compatibility with follow-up technologies, because this hinders consecutive innovations in an industry. Especially proprietary standards of single or groups of dominant players may prevent competing technologies to market access and therefore thwart innovation

The Influence of Strategic Patenting on Companies' Patent Portfolios

This paper analyses whether strategic motives for patenting influence the characteristics of companies' patent portfolios. We use the number of citations and oppositions to represent these characteristics. The investigation is based on survey and patent data from German companies. We find clear evidence that the companies' patenting strategies explain the characteristics of their patent portfolios. First, companies using patents to protect their technological knowledge base receive a higher number of citations for their patents. Second, the motive of offensive – but not of defensive – blocking is related to a higher incidence of oppositions, whereas companies using patents as bartering chips in collaborations receive fewer oppositions to their patents. --strategic patenting,patent portfolio characteristics

The influence of strategic patenting on companies' patent portfolios

This paper analyses whether strategic motives for patenting influence the characteristics of companies' patent portfolios. We use the number of citations and oppositions to represent these characteristics. The investigation is based on survey and patent data from German companies. We find clear evidence that the companies' patenting strategies explain the characteristics of their patent portfolios. First, companies using patents to protect their technological knowledge base receive a higher number of citations for their patents. Second, the motive of offensive - but not of defensive - blocking is related to a higher incidence of oppositions, whereas companies using patents as bartering chips in collaborations receive fewer oppositions to their patents. --strategic patenting,patent portfolio characteristics

The characteristics and impacts of scientific publications in biotechnology research referenced in standards

The integration of research papers in standards has not yet been addressed using quantitative approaches. This paper investigates the characteristics of research articles on biotechnology related to standards. The analysis is based on a study of standards produced by the standardization consortia BioSharing. Research, i.e. scientific articles, included in standards is more likely to lead to follow-up research and diffusion over a longer period of time than comparable scientific publications measured by the number of citations relative to most-related articles. In addition, research relying on scientific publications referenced in standards is more valuable for the research progress

The interplay of patents and standards for information and communication technologies

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.ICT products are often interdependent and in some cases indispensably work together. Firms may thus compete on different market levels pursuing different business models to sponsor their proprietary technologies and to maintain market share for their products and services. Interoperability of products is a crucial factor for market success and firms evermore have to coordinate and set standards. These standardized technologies are in some cases protected by patents. Standard essential patents claim an invention that must be used by any company to comply with a technical standard. They are subject to a new and different legal framework which goes beyond the rights of regular patent law. This may influence incentives to develop and specify ICT standards, incentives to invest in R&D or incentives to file patents. Yet, the inclusion of intellectual property in standards, and the strategic behavior of its owners, can have far-reaching consequences for market structure, market entry, and sustained technical progress and innovation. This article discusses current legal and economic issues on the interplay of patents and standards and provides empirical insides on licensing, patenting and coordination

The interplay between innovation, standards and regulation in a globalising economy

To examine the different roles of regulation and standards in the age of globalisation, we hypothesize and investigate the relation of regulation and national and international standards on the one hand with innovation input (R&D expenditure) and innovation output (patents) on the other hand. The analysis is based on data of 26 high-income countries between 1998 and 2018. There are two main results. Firstly, international standards outperform both de-regulation and national standardisation as they are positively associated with R&D expenditure and patenting. On the other hand, national standards – once believed a source of competitiveness – are negatively related to patents and hence seem to localize economies and slow-down innovation. Secondly, de-regulation does not correlate positively with R&D expenditure, but with increased patenting. We argue the former suggest businesses did not – as assumed – spend freed up resources on R&D, but instead strategically used patenting to replace lost regulation-based protection with patent fences. This casts doubts on the added social value of de-regulation induced innovation

Patents and the financial performance of firms - An analysis based on stock market data

The following article systematically analyzes the question of how the results of R&D and its protection - or so to say, the technology base of a firm - can influence its market value and profits. Based on theoretical arguments it is hypothesized that large and highly valuable patent portfolios of firms have significant effects on their competitiveness in the long run. For the empirical testing a panel dataset including 479 firms from 1990 to 2007 based on the DTI-Scoreboard is used, which contains data on R&D expenditures, market capitalization, turnover etc. and structural information like firm-size and industry sector. To this database the relevant information on patenting behavior and financial performance are added, so effects of firm characteristics can be calculated. To assess the value of a firm's patent portfolio, different value measures like the number of received patent citations, opposed patents, number of inventors etc. are being applied. The results suggest that at least at the firm level, especially forward citations and family size positively influence market value. Concerning the Return on Investment, especially oppositions and family size show positive effects. This leads to the conclusion that securing international markets has a positive effect on the value of the firm in the home market. --