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Commercializing academic research: the quality of faculty patenting

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  • Dirk Czarnitzki
  • Katrin Hussinger
  • Cédric Schneider

Abstract

The knowledge produced by academic scientists has been identified as a potential key driver of technological progress. Recent policies in Europe aim at increasing commercially orientated activities in academe. Based on a sample of German scientists across all fields of science, we investigate the importance of academic patenting. Our findings suggest that academic involvement in patenting results in a citation premium, as academic patents appear to generate more forward citations. We also find that in the European context of changing research objectives and funding sources since the mid-1990s, the "importance" of academic patents declines over time. We show that academic entrants have patents of lower "quality" than academic incumbents but they did not cause the decline, since the relative importance of patents involving academics with an existing patenting history declined over time as well. Moreover, a preliminary evaluation of the effects of the abolishment of the "professor privilege" (the German counterpart of the US Bayh-Dole Act) reveals that this legal disposition led to an acceleration of this apparent decline. Copyright 2011 The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.

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  • Dirk Czarnitzki & Katrin Hussinger & Cédric Schneider, 2011. "Commercializing academic research: the quality of faculty patenting," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 20(5), pages 1403-1437, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:20:y:2011:i:5:p:1403-1437
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    JEL classification:

    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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