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Innovative Output, Productivity and Profitability. A Test Comparing USPTO and EPO Data

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  • Enrico Santarelli
  • Francesca Lotti

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to test whether patent-based indicators are still reliable measures of innovativeness in light of organizational changes in the field of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection and the regulatory reforms already occurred and under way, respectively, at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office (EPO). For most high-tech industries, patents represent an outcome of the production process and their number can be taken as a proxy for a firm's ability to improve its productivity growth and profitability. The case study reported here concerns the biotechnology industry in Italy, whose firms, by definition, have Intellectual Property (IP) activities in their portfolios. For this purpose, we use a unique dataset which collects balance sheet items and patent information from EPO and USPTO. After linking firms' financial and production data with the patent information, we estimate a modified knowledge production function in which the dependent variable is alternatively (labor) productivity growth and profitability. Although based on a quite small sample, our findings provide some indication of a statistically significant relationship between patents with the EPO and both productivity growth and, in particular, profitability. This suggests that firms might pursue different strategies when patenting with the USPTO and the EPO.

Suggested Citation

  • Enrico Santarelli & Francesca Lotti, 2008. "Innovative Output, Productivity and Profitability. A Test Comparing USPTO and EPO Data," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 393-409.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:indinn:v:15:y:2008:i:4:p:393-409
    DOI: 10.1080/13662710802273280
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Productivity and R&D at the Firm Level," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 100-133, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Zvi Griliches, 1984. "R&D, Patents, and Productivity," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number gril84-1.
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    Cited by:

    1. Roberta Piergiovanni & Enrico Santarelli, 2013. "The more you spend, the more you get? The effects of R&D and capital expenditures on the patenting activities of biotechnology firms," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 94(2), pages 497-521, February.
    2. Ann Hipp & Björn Jindra & Kehinde Medase, 2023. "Nothing new in the East? New evidence on productivity effects of inventions in the GDR," Bremen Papers on Economics & Innovation 2301, University of Bremen, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics.

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