The innovation process of Huawei and ZTE: Patent data analysis

This study compares the innovation process of Huawei and ZTE in China using their patent data. By using patent statistics and raw data, this study provides more detailed findings than what statistics alone can provide. Huawei and ZTE were selected for this study mainly because they were the only Chinese firms that ranked among the top 100 PCT applicants in 2011. This study investigates the difference in the innovation process in R&D between Huawei and ZTE by analyzing (1) domestic and international patent application patterns, (2) granted patents, (3) co-applicants and inventors, (4) knowledge accumulation inside Huawei and ZTE, and (5) knowledge spillover to domestic and foreign firms.     

跨界融合背景下物流搬运专利信息分析

新一代信息技术加速跨界融合,物流搬运衔接物流诸多环节,直接影响整体效率。以国家知识产权局的物流搬运专利为研究对象,采用专利分析法和社会网络分析法对1999—2023年物流搬运专利进行多方面分析,剖析物流搬运的关键技术及欠缺方向,形成专利情报。物流搬运专利存在地区发展不均衡、发明人难以进行二次创新、科研单位未发挥优势提高专利数量、企业难以产出技术含量较高专利等问题。为此,围绕缩小地区间的专利水平差异、维持发明人的创新热情、提升专利申请“质”和“量”等3方面,提出促进物流搬运技术蓬勃发展之策。     

Technology transfer via foreign patents in Germany, 1843–77

This article analyses the spread of innovation in mid‐nineteenth‐century Germany using foreign patents as an indicator for technology transfer. It introduces a new dataset of over 1,400 patents granted in the Grand Duchy of Baden between 1843 and 1877. The data show that Baden's technology import via foreign patents from German and non‐German inventors was important. This technology transfer was broadly based, although technologies related to the textile and machine‐building industries are prominent in the data. The decision to file a patent in Baden was driven by competition and the risk of imitation. Using a gravity model with city‐level data, we find evidence that technology transfer through patents reflected existing trade links. The strong correlation between technologies filed by foreigners and domestic inventors provides further evidence that the risk of imitation fostered patent‐based technology transfer during the mid‐nineteenth century. Furthermore, we show that foreigners filed patents predominantly in industries that accounted for a high share of the workforce in Baden.     

福建农林大学发明专利专利权人特征研究

以福建农林大学自1985年以来发明专利申请和授权专利文献为基础,分析第一发明人年龄结构与职称结构,探讨发明专利发明人组成及第一发明人员分布状况。结果表明,申请与授权发明专利第一发明人年龄段主要集中于41-55岁,分别占职务发明中申请与授权专利总量的52.7%和61.4%;申请与授权发明专利第一发明人以正高职称为主,分别为61.8%和60%。申请的262项发明专利中,228项是多人协作研究完成,占申请发明专利总数262项的87.0%;其中职务发明中215项是多人合作发明,占职务发明专利的90.7%。在授权的75项发明专利中,66项是多人协作而创新的发明专利,占授权发明专利总数的88.0%;其中职务发明专利授权中64项是通过科研团队合作而形成的科研结晶,占全部职务发明授权专利的91.4%;在申请专利中,由5人以上共同发明的申请专利占总申请发明专利262项的38.9%;在授权专利中,由5人以上共同发明的授权专利占总授权专利75项的42.7%。第一发明人分布特征分析认为,申请1项发明专利的科技人员占全部申请专利的21.4%,占第一发明(设计)人总数104人的53.8%;申请8-15项专利的科技人员有7人,其申请专利数量占全校总数的30.2%;在发明专利的授权人员分布中,有29人取得1项专利授权,占授权人总数的70.7%;5人获得2项专利授权,2人分获3-4项专利授权,最多者获得8-9项发明专利授权,占总授权专利的22.7%。     

The value of invention patents in China: Country origin and technology field differences

This paper improves renewal payment based patent value model by introducing unexpired patents into the model. We estimate value of the invention patents based on SIPO records in China and compare values of patents between local owners and owners from the U.S., Japan and European countries. The study reveals that patent value from Chinese owners is much lower than that of overseas owners. This larger value gap implies important difference in motive of the patenting and R&D quality between China and those technology intensive sources usually from economically advanced countries and regions. The model developed in this study is also applied to patent data in different technical fields, successfully differing technical sectors with higher value (e.g., machinery) and those with lower value (e.g., pharmaceuticals), in terms of China market based patent records. Both applications prove that the newly developed model can be an important analytical tool for providing classified patent value on different purposes, especially in case of China.     

Measuring China's patent quality: Development and validation of ISR indices

Because China has become one of the largest applicants of PCT patents, it is of interest to compare the quality of Chinese and non-Chinese applications. We extend a quality index based on internationally comparable citation data from international search reports (ISR) to consider foreign, domestic, and self citations. Whereas foreign citations show that Chinese PCT patent applications reach only a third of the non-Chinese quality benchmark, the extension towards domestic and self citations suggests a higher quality level that converges to or even surpasses the benchmark. We investigate these differences based on firm-level regressions and find that in China, only foreign citations, but not domestic and self citations, have a significant and positive relation to R&D stocks. Using Germany as a representative country without policy support for patenting, we show that all three citation types may be used as economic indicators if policy distortion is not a concern. Our results show that domestic and self citations suffer from an upward bias in China and should be employed with caution if they are to be interpreted as a measure of patent quality.     

The value of Chinese patents: An empirical investigation of citation lags

China has been experiencing a substantial growth in patent applications. But is this increase accompanied by a similar increase in patent value? To assess this question, we examine the citation lag of Chinese patents as a proxy of patent value in comparison with patents from the US, Europe, Japan, and Korea. Our empirical analysis comprises a unique data set of 60,000 patents with priority years between 2000 and 2010. Utilizing Cox regressions, our results show that Chinese patents suffer from a large citation lag in comparison to international patents, indicating a lower value. This is especially true for patents filed domestically. However, we find empirical support for an increasing patent value in more recent patents. China shows a strong dynamic in the field of patenting and our results suggest that the gap between Chinese patents and international patents might narrow down in the near future.     

基于专利转让数据分析的高校科技成果转化路径探索

高校是国家创新体系的重要组成部分,其专利转让与许可是建设创新型国家的重要环节。全国高校数量众多,专利授权数量和有效专利数丰富,但高校专利转让及许可实施效果欠佳。采用实证分析方法,对2013—2020年全国高校专利转化数据进行挖掘和分析,从有效发明专利数、专利转让率、专利所有权转让及许可数、专利所有权转让及许可收入等维度,深入研究全国高校专利转让与许可现状,分析制约高校专利转化的关键因素,并从完善高校科研评价体系、加大与企业和市场需求的对接、建立健全科技成果转化管理机构等方面提出对策和建议。     

室温催化处理VOCs的专利分析

对室温催化处理挥发性有机物（VOCs）的相关专利的申请量趋势、地域分布、申请人、发明人、技术功效等进行分析。结果表明，目前室温催化处理VOCs处于技术萌芽期，专利申请主要集中在国内，国外专利布局较少，可加强国外专利布局，提前占领技术领地。通过对技术功效和技术要点的分析可以了解目前室温催化处理VOCs的技术热点和技术空白点，对室温催化处理VOCs技术的后续研究具有一定的启发作用。     

Trade-related intellectual property rights and product versus process innovations

The incentives of southern governments to protect process and product patents are examined in a game with endogenous research and development and licensing. Patent protection results in the licensing of cost-reducing process innovations to southern firms. By increasing competition, licensing provides an incentive for southern governments to protect process patents. However, optimal patent policy may involve restrictions in the form of licensing contracts. In the case of product innovations, licensing does not occur regardless of whether or not patents are protected. Thus, patent protection serves to reinforce monopoly power without increasing technology diffusion. Southern governments thus have a lower incentive to protect product patents.     

从主要专利质量指标看我国专利的发展水平

我国专利数量在国际上位居世界前列,表明已经形成了较强的知识产权保护意识和专利创造能力,但对数量上的成就需要客观冷静地分析。从专利质量角度对我国专利发展水平进行研究,在提出国家专利质量主要测度指标的基础上,对我国专利质量与国际领先水平进行比较分析,发现我国专利在申请质量、国际化水平、有效维持时间和技术影响力4个维度均比较落后。在研究结果的基础上,最后提出了促进我国专利质量水平提升的政策建议。     

Patents and invention in Jamaica and the British Atlantic before 1857 †

Before 1852 the English patent system operated at both a domestic and a global level, allowing inventors to extend its operation beyond England to the colonies, where it interacted in territories such as Jamaica with a colonial system of patents and grants. It therefore provides one of the few examples of a workable global patent system, and an important case study of the structures that supported the development and circulation of technology within the British Atlantic during the early stages of the industrial revolution. Providing a framework of ‘tiered’ rather than ‘parallel’ powers and jurisdictions, the imperial patent system was a flexible instrument that inventors could use strategically to promote transnational technological innovation, in which people, ideas, and skills moved back and forth between Britain and colonies such as Jamaica. Patenting, which was concentrated in wealthy plantation colonies that sought greater productivity, was therefore a key part of the economic development of empire.     

International patenting by Chinese residents: Constructing a database of Chinese foreign-oriented patent families

This paper analyzes Chinese patenting abroad by constructing a novel database of foreign-oriented patent families (1970–2012) and by distilling stylized facts about China's international patenting strategies. Patent families are a set of related patents filed in one or more foreign jurisdictions to protect the same invention. We find that by the turn of the century China emerged as major actor in terms of international patenting. Nonetheless, the share of Chinese patents which get filed abroad is still a fraction of patents filed at home; most patents abroad also only target one foreign country. Moreover, China's foreign patents are concentrated in a few technology fields and in a few firms, mostly the information technology sector. A shift is underway however to an increased proportion of filings abroad. The paper finds that the main drivers for this change are the desire to facilitate collaboration, to license IP, and to further the firm's reputation as true innovator.     

Social credit and patent quality: Evidence from China

We combine the discredited people database disclosed by the China People’s Supreme Court and the China industry business performance database from 2003 to 2014 and examine the effect of regional social credit on the quality of patents, measured by knowledge breadth. We find that a loss of social credit can result in a significant decline in patent quality. The result remains robust to a series of sensitivity checks, including using the alternative measures of key variables and exploiting the number of missionary universities established since the Opium War as an instrument for social credit. The possible mechanisms for the effect of social credit on patent quality are further verified, including attenuating external financing constraints and enhancing the innovation incentive.     

Information‐Processing Costs and Breadth of Ownership

Using the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's mandate of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) as a natural experiment, this study investigates whether and how the decreased information‐processing costs brought about by XBRL influence firms’ breadth of share ownership. We find that the XBRL mandate is associated with an increase in the total number of a firm's shareholders. This finding is consistent with the notion that XBRL facilitates a more transparent environment and decreases information‐processing costs, thereby attracting more shareholders in general. More interestingly, we find that while XBRL adoption is associated with an increase in share ownership of individual and non‐U.S. foreign institutional investors, it is associated with a decrease in share ownership of U.S. domestic institutional investors. Further evidence shows that this asymmetric shift in share ownership is more pronounced for more complex firms. Our findings, taken together, suggest that the decreased information‐processing costs brought about by XBRL help firms establish a level playing field by reducing the information disadvantages of individual and foreign institutional investors over domestic institutional investors. Our results are robust to potential endogeneity concerns and alternative research designs.     

双重合作网络对技术创新的非线性影响——以石墨烯产业为例

结合全球石墨烯产业发明人和组织的联合申请专利数据,通过构建计量模型,实证检验网络结构特征对技术创新的影响,并深入讨论组织内部发明人网络密度、地理邻近性和制度邻近性所发挥的调节作用.研究发现,中心性与技术创新存在倒"U"形关系,过度的中心性对组织创新产生不利影响,发明人网络密度提升既可以增强中心性的积极作用,也可以降低过度中心性带来的负向效应;结构洞与技术创新之间存在正向"U"形关系,且网络密度具有正向调节作用;地理邻近性和制度邻近性均在网络结构特征与技术创新之间关系上具有调节作用,且前者的效应显著更强,即地理距离越近,越有利发挥网络结构带来的优势,加速异质性创新资源在网络的流动,促进知识和信息的有效转化,提升组织技术创新能力.最后,基于研究结论,提出通过动态调整组织内部发明人专利网络和组织间合作网络进而提升石墨烯产业整体技术创新水平的实现路径.     

Prizes,patents and the search for longitude

The 1714 Longitude Act created the Board of Longitude to administer a large monetary prize and progress payments for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. However, the prize did not prohibit patenting. We use a new dataset of marine chronometer inventors to show that the propensity to patent was high. We argue that while the prize spurred entry by key inventors, and progress payments facilitated research investment in an area of significant social value, patents promoted disclosure. Our findings highlight the importance of complementarities between prize and patent-based incentives in the design of innovation inducement contests.     

Independent invention during the rise of the corporate economy in Britain and Japan1

Independent inventors accounted for approximately half of all patents in Britain and Japan by 1930, despite the rise of the corporate economy and the spread of industrial R&D. A mixture of patent renewal and historical citations data reveals that the quality of independent invention was high. Active markets for inventions created incentives for independents, especially in large cities like London and Tokyo, which dominated spatially. Alongside evidence for the US, the findings show that in countries with different patent systems and at varying stages of economic development, a key component of overall inventive activity originated from outside the boundaries of firms.     

Independent invention in Italy during the Liberal Age, 1861–1913

This article examines the phenomenon of independent invention in Italy during the Liberal Age (1861–1913). It makes use of a new dataset comprising all patents granted in Italy in five benchmark years: 1864–5, 1881, 1891, 1902, and 1911. The following exercises are carried out. First, an examination is undertaken of the shares of independent, corporate, and foreign inventions and their evolution over time and across industries. Second, by exploiting the peculiarities of Italian patent legislation, which was characterized by relatively cheap fees and a flexible renewal scheme, the relative quality of independent and corporate patents is assessed. The results indicate that in Italy independent inventors made an important contribution to technological change in terms of number of patents, but the quality of their patents was significantly lower than that of firms and of foreign patentees.     

高校职务科技成果披露制度研究——基于中外高校实践的比较分析

建立健全国内高校职务科技成果披露制度对提升专利质量、促进成果转化具有重要作用。基于国内高校职务科技成果披露现状,发现并分析当前存在的专利申请和转化效度不足、人才支撑力度不够、制度范式尚未形成等问题。围绕制度规定、工作流程、专业队伍和激励制度等方面对中外高校制度实践进行比较,并从提升意识、建立制度、完善配套3个方面提出相应改进策略。