293 research outputs found

    Internal basic research, external basic research and the technological performance of pharmaceutical firms.

    Get PDF
    We evaluate the impact of basic research on pharmaceutical firms’ technological performance, distinguishing between internal basic research and the exploitation of external basic research findings. We find that firms increase their performance by engaging more in internal basic research, in particular if basic research is conducted in collaboration with university scientists. The exploitation of external basic research improves performance, while the magnitude increases with firms’ involvement in internal basic research. Hence, internal basic research and the exploitation of external basic research are complements, suggesting that internal basic research provides firms with the skills to exploit external basic research more effectively.basic research; industrial innovation; pharmaceutical industry;

    The market value of blocking patent citations

    Get PDF
    There is a growing literature that aims at assessing the private value of knowledge assets and patents. It has been shown that patents and their quality as measured by citations received by future patents contribute significantly to the market value of firms beyond their R&D stocks. This paper goes one step further and distinguishes between different types of forward citations patents can receive at the European Patent Office. While a patent can be cited as non-infringing state of the art, it can also be cited because it threatens the novelty of patent applications ('blocking citations'). Empirical results from a market value model for a sample of large, R&D-intensive U.S., European and Japanese firms show that patents frequently cited as blocking references have a higher economic value for their owners than patents cited for nonblocking reasons. This finding adds to the patent value literature by showing that different types of patent citations carry different information on the economic value of patents. The result further suggests that the total number of forward citations can be an imprecise measure of patent value. --Market Value,Patents,Citations,Patent Value

    Staatsnatuurreservaat De Westhoek: ontwikkelingen 1981-1988

    Get PDF

    Does Excellence in Academic Research Attract Foreign R&D?.

    Get PDF
    We examine the role of host countries’ academic research strengths in global R&D location decisions by multinational firms. While we expect that a firm’s propensity to perform R&D in a host country increases with the strength of local academic research, firms are expected to be heterogeneously positioned to benefit from academic research strengths due to differences in the capacity to absorb and utilize scientific knowledge. We find support for these conjectures in an analysis of foreign R&D activities in 40 host countries and 30 technology fields by 176 leading European, US and Japanese firms during the periods 1995-1998 and 1999-2002. Controlling for a wide range of host country factors, the number of relevant ISI publications by scientists based in the host country has a substantial positive impact on the propensity to conduct foreign R&D. The effect of academic research is significantly larger for firms with a stronger science orientation in R&D - as indicated by citations to scientific literature in prior patents. For host countries with a strong relevant science base, this greater responsiveness of science oriented firms more than offsets a generally greater inclination to concentrate R&D at home. The findings appear robust across a variety of specifications.

    Technological diversification, coherence and performance of firms.

    Get PDF
    Technological diversification at the level of the firm, i.e. the expansion of a firm’s technology base into a wide range of technology fields, is found to be a prevailing phenomenon in all three major industrialized regions: US, Europe and Japan, prompting the term multi-technology corporation. Whereas previous studies have provided insights into the composition of technology portfolios of multi-technology firms, little is known about the link between technological diversification and firms’ technological performance. Against a backdrop of the technology and innovation management literature, this article investigates the relationship between technological diversification and technological performance, taking into account the moderating role of technological coherence in firms’ technology portfolios. Hereby, technological coherence is defined as the degree to which technologies in a technology portfolio are technologically related. In order to measure the technological coherence of portfolios, a measure of technological relatedness of technology fields is constructed based on patent citation patterns found in 450,000 EPO patent grants. Two hypotheses are presented in this article: (1) Technological diversification has an inverted U-shaped relationship with technological performance; and (2) Technological coherence moderates the relationship between technological diversification and technological performance positively. These hypotheses are tested empirically using a panel dataset (1995-2003) on patent portfolios pertaining to 184 US, European, and Japanese firms. The firms selected are the largest R&D actors in five industries: Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Chemicals, Engineering & General Machinery, IT Hardware (computers and communication equipment), and Electronics & Electrical Machinery. Empirical results, obtained by fixed-effects negative binomial regressions, support both hypotheses in this article. Technological diversification has an inverted U-shaped relationship with technological performance. While technological diversification offers opportunities for cross-fertilization and technology fusion, high levels of diversification may yield few marginal benefits as firms risk lacking sufficient levels of scale to benefit from wide-ranging technological capabilities, and firms may encounter high levels of coordination and integration costs. Further, the results show that the net benefits of technological diversification are higher in technologically coherent technology portfolios. If firms build up a technologically coherent diversified portfolio, the presence of sufficient levels of scale is ensured and coordination costs are limited. This article clearly identifies the important role of technological coherence and points out in the discussion session the relevance of future research on interface management practices directed to the realization of the benefits of technological diversification.technology diversification; technology relatedness; innovation; firm performance;

    The market value of blocking patent citations.

    Get PDF
    There is a growing literature that aims at assessing the private value of knowledge assets and patents. It has been shown that patents and their quality as measured by citations received by future patents contribute significantly to the market value of firms beyond their R&D stocks. This paper goes one step further and distinguishes between different types of forward citations patents can receive at the European Patent Office. While a patent can be cited as non-infringing state of the art, it can also be cited because it threatens the novelty of patent applications (“blocking citations”). Empirical results from a market value model for a sample of large, R&D-intensive U.S., European and Japanese firms show that patents frequently cited as blocking references have a higher economic value for their owners than patents cited for nonblocking reasons. This finding adds to the patent value literature by showing that different types of patent citations carry different information on the economic value of patents. The result further suggests that the total number of forward citations can be an imprecise measure of patent value.market value; patents; citations; patent value;

    Does Excellence in Academic Research Attract Foreign R&D?

    Get PDF
    We examine the role of host countries’ academic research strengths in global R&D location decisions by multinational firms. While we expect that a firm’s propensity to perform R&D in a host country increases with the strength of local academic research, firms are expected to be heterogeneously positioned to benefit from academic research strengths due to differences in the capacity to absorb and utilize scientific knowledge. We find support for these conjectures in an analysis of foreign R&D activities in 40 host countries and 30 technology fields by 176 leading European, US and Japanese firms during the periods 1995-1998 and 1999-2002. Controlling for a wide range of host country factors, the number of relevant ISI publications by scientists based in the host country has a substantial positive impact on the propensity to conduct foreign R&D. The effect of academic research is significantly larger for firms with a stronger science orientation in R&D - as indicated by citations to scientific literature in prior patents. For host countries with a strong relevant science base, this greater responsiveness of science oriented firms more than offsets a generally greater inclination to concentrate R&D at home. The findings appear robust across a variety of specifications.R&D Internationalization, Knowledge sourcing, Absorptive capacity, Industry-science links

    Does Excellence in Academic Research Attract Foreign R&D?

    Get PDF
    We examine the role of host countries' academic research strengths in global R&D location decisions by multinational firms. While we expect that a firm's propensity to perform R&D in a host country increases with the strength of local academic research, firms are expected to be heterogeneously positioned to benefit from academic research strengths due to differences in the capacity to absorb and utilize scientific knowledge. We find support for these conjectures in an analysis of foreign R&D activities in 40 host countries and 30 technology fields by 176 leading European, US and Japanese firms during the periods 1995-1998 and 1999-2002. Controlling for a wide range of host country factors, the number of relevant ISI publications by scientists based in the host country has a substantial positive impact on the propensity to conduct foreign R&D. The effect of academic research is significantly larger for firms with a stronger science orientation in R&D - as indicated by citations to scientific literature in prior patents. For host countries with a strong relevant science base, this greater responsiveness of science oriented firms more than offsets a generally greater inclination to concentrate R&D at home. The findings appear robust across a variety of specifications.R&D internationalization, Knowledge sourcing, Absorptive capacity, Industry-science links

    Developing technology in the vicinity of science: Do firms really benefit? An empirical assessment on the level of Italian provinces.

    Get PDF
    The article examines whether firms benefit from the presence of universities when developing technology. By estimating regional knowledge production functions for 101 Italian regions, we observe a strong positive relation between industrial technological performance – measured by patents – and the local presence of universities. In addition, 'academic' regions witness higher levels of industrial technological output, the more pronounced the scientific eminence of the regional universities. Finally, our analysis indicates that the observed spillover effects are field-specific, with domains situated in the vicinity of science benefiting most. Together, these findings suggest complementary roles for scientific and industrial actors within regional innovation systems.Regional Innovation Systems; Technology transfer; University-Firm Knowledge Spillovers; Technology; Science; Firms; Research;

    Restoration of the tidal lagoon of the Zwin

    Get PDF
    The tidal tloodplain of the Zwin between Knokke (Belgium,Flanders) and Cadzand(Netherlands) is a border-crossing relic of the sound that once connected the medieval ports of Damme and Sluis with the North Sea and gave Bruges its golden age. Historic land reclaim, that only ended in 1872, reduced the Zwin to a tidal lagoon with a superficies of only 200 hectares, comprising salt marshes, mudtlats, tidal gullies and coastal dunes. Once an important sanctuary for coastal bird-species, the Zwin is in both concerned European Union member states included in the European Natura 2000 network. Since the years 1980, accelerated silting up of the lagoon and gullies and encroachment of the salt marshes with Elymus athericus have resulted into a significant loss of biodiversity. The accelerated silting up is caused by the lack of dynamics in relation to the too small scale of the remaining sea-inlet. After the necessary hydrodynamic modelling and an Environmental Impact Assessment were carried out, it was decided that the tloodplain of the Zwin should be enlarged with 120 hectares by moving the searetaining dike inland. The Agency for Nature and Forest (Flanders) has, together with the Province of Zeeland (Netherlands), also elaborated an arrangement-plan for the presently existing tidal site. This arrangement-plan prescribes rejuvenation of the salt marshes by cutting off sods and grazing by cattle and livestock as well as restoration of a tidal lagoon and expansion of the main sea-inlet by excavations
    corecore