150 research outputs found
Patents versus ex-post rewards : a new look
Studies that aim at comparing the patent system social efficiency versus an ex-post reward system rest on a traditional view of patents. They make the hypothesis that firms use the patent system only in order to be granted a short-term monopoly rent and therefore that patents lead to strong and steady monopolies. This assumption is convenient because it allows straightforward comparisons between patent and reward systems. But empirical studies do not confirm this vision of patents. Most firms do not consider patents as efficient devices to exploit commercial monopoly positions. Patents are rather perceived as strategic devices to signal firms' competences and to strengthen firms' bargaining power during negotiations prior to knowledge exchange and to R&D cooperation. These changes lead to rethink the framework of the patent-reward debate.Patent, ex-post reward, R&D cooperation, cross-licensing, knowledge exchange
On the consequences of university patenting: What can we learn by asking directly to academic inventors?
This paper examines the consequences of university patenting by using an original source of information: The point of view of French academic inventors, i.e. French university professors who are also inventors of European patents. Via a survey we collected information about 280 French academic inventors. This enables us to put forward new insights with respect to the effect of university patenting on the diffusion of scientific research, incentives to do basic research, commercialization of university inventions and access to upstream knowledge. In particular, the study suggests a tradeoff between enabling the transfer of university inventions to industry in some sectors and delaying the dissemination of scientific research. On the one hand, most academic inventors acknowledge a lag in their publication process directly attributable to the patent application but, on the other hand, in life science disciplines a large majority of respondents who have had one of their inventions commercialized, believe that this would not have been the case had a patent not been there.University patenting, open science, intellectual property rights, technology transfer, university-industry relationships, Bayh-Dole Act.
More open than open innovation? Rethinking the concept of openness in innovation studies.
This paper re-examines the concept of open innovation developed in organization sciences (Chesbrough, 2003a). We claim that this paradigm, which insists on the distributive nature of innovation among a wide range of heterogeneous actors, does not put enough emphasis on the condition of access to knowledge. Yet, the open dimension of knowledge is a very important feature to sustain a collective mode of innovation. We propose therefore a stronger definition of open innovation, which is based on three constitutive characteristics: (i) Firms voluntarily release knowledge; (ii) Knowledge is open, i.e. is available to all interested parties without discrimination; (iii) dynamic interactions take place among the stakeholders to enrich the open knowledge base. Examples that fit our definition of open innovation are open science, user centered innovation (von Hippel, 2005), free-libre open source software, collective invention (Allen, 1983), etc. We conclude with a discussion on the role of IPR to secure open innovation.open source, free software, intellectual property rights (IPR), open innovation, collective invention.
Patents versus ex-post rewards: a new look.
Economic studies that aim at comparing the patent system social efficiency versus an ex-post reward system rest on a traditional view of patents. They make the hypothesis that firms use the patent system only in order to be granted a short-term monopoly rent and therefore that patents lead to strong and steady monopolies. This assumption is convenient because it allows straightforward comparisons between patent and reward systems. But empirical studies do not confirm this vision of patents. Most firms do not consider patents as efficient devices to exploit commercial monopoly positions. Patents are rather perceived as strategic devices to signal firmsâ competences and to strengthen firmsâ bargaining power during negotiations prior to knowledge exchange and to R&D cooperation. These changes lead to rethink the framework of the patent-reward debate.Patent, ex-post reward, R&D cooperation, cross-licensing, knowledge exchange.
The determinants of scientific research agenda: Why do academic inventors choose to perform patentable versus non-patentable research?
This paper explores the determinants of scientific research agenda. By using an original dataset that includes extensive information about 269 French academic inventors, we analyze why scientists choose to perform patentable versus non-patentable research. Usually economic studies tackle this problem by using the number of invented patents as a proxy of researchersâ willingness to perform patentable research. The originality of the paper is that, in addition to the number of invented patents, we rely on a survey-base dependant variable that indicates whether or not scientists acknowledge orienting deliberately their research towards patentable areas. Our results indicate that past experience with respect to patenting activity matters: academic inventors who have already experienced a successful technology transfer are more inclined to orient their research towards patentable domains. Similarly, the institutional environment plays an explanatory role, whereas conversely, scientific discipline, age and individual research performance do not seem to affect the decision to orient research towards patentable areas. Yet, age and scientific performance positively influence the number of patents scholars effectively invent.University, patent, scientific agenda, technology transfer, academic inventors.
Non-Gaussianity of the Cosmic Infrared Background anisotropies II : Predictions of the bispectrum and constraints forecast
Using a full analytical computation of the bispectrum based on the halo model
together with the halo occupation number, we derive the bispectrum of the cos-
mic infrared background (CIB) anisotropies that trace the clustering of
dusty-star- forming galaxies. We focus our analysis on wavelengths in the
far-infrared and the sub-millimeter typical of the Planck/HFI and
Herschel/SPIRE instruments, 350, 550, 850, and 1380 um. We explore the
bispectrum behaviour as a function of several models of evolution of galaxies
and show that it is strongly sensitive to that ingredient. Contrary to the
power spectrum, the bispectrum, at the four wavelengths, seems dominated by low
redshift galaxies. Such a contribution can be hardly limited by applying low
flux cuts. We also discuss the contributions of halo mass as a function of the
redshift and the wavelength, recovering that each term is sensitive to a
different mass range. Furthermore, we show that the CIB bispectrum is a strong
contaminant of the Cosmic Microwave Background bispectrum at 850 um and higher.
Finally, a Fisher analysis of the power spectrum, bispectrum alone and of the
combination of both shows that degeneracies on the HOD parameters are broken by
including the bispectrum information, leading to tight constraints even when
including foreground residuals.Comment: 16 pages, Accepted by MNRA
Research Tool Patents and Free-Libre Biotechnology: A Unified Perspective.
This paper proposes a unified conceptual framework to analyse the multiple role and consequences of patents in the case of biotechnology research tools. We argue that the knowledge/information and independent/complementary nature of research tools define heterogeneous frameworks in which the patent system plays different roles. In particular, using the analogy with the free-libre open source movement in software, we show that patents can promote open innovation by ensuring the freedom of some pieces of knowledge. A strong conclusion of the paper is therefore that, against common belief, an adequate use of the patent system may contribute to preserving freedom of access to upstream research tools within a framework that we call free-libre biotechnology.Intellectual property rights, sequential innovation, open source, life science, collective invention.
Non-Gaussianity of the Cosmic Infrared Background anisotropies I : Diagrammatic formalism and application to the angular bispectrum
We present the first halo model based description of the Cosmic Infrared
Background (CIB) non-Gaussianity (NG) that is fully parametric. To this end, we
introduce, for the first time, a diagrammatic method to compute high order
polyspectra of the 3D galaxy density field. It allows an easy derivation and
visualisation of the different terms of the polyspectrum. We apply this
framework to the power spectrum and bispectrum, and we show how to project them
on the celestial sphere in the purpose of the application to the CIB angular
anisotropies. Furthermore, we show how to take into account the particular case
of the shot noise terms in that framework. Eventually, we compute the CIB
angular bispectrum at 857 GHz and study its scale and configuration
dependencies, as well as its variations with the halo occupation distribution
parameters. Compared to a previously proposed empirical prescription, such
physically motivated model is required to describe fully the CIB anisotropies
bispectrum. Finally, we compare the CIB bispectrum with the bispectra of other
signals potentially present at microwave frequencies, which hints that
detection of CIB NG should be possible above 220 GHz.Comment: 21 pages, 21 figures. Accepted by MNRA
Entrepreneurship in biotechnology: The case of four start-ups in the Upper-Rhine Biovalley.
This paper explores entrepreneurship in biotech through the in depth analysis of four new ventures located in the Upper-Rhine Biovalley. One of the strengths of this paper is the presence of both successful cases of entrepreneurship and of cases of failures. This gives the opportunity to discuss the role of several factors on the performance of a new biotech venture. Three points particularly comes out of this study: The importance of public science, without which new biotech firms could hardly exist; the role of the patent system, the importance of which we link to the business model adopted by the firm; and the importance of collaborations, which we study through the concept of distributed entrepreneurship.Intellectual property rights, patents, science, distributed entrepreneurship, collective invention.
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