Exploring potential R&D collaboration partners through patent analysis based on bibliographic coupling and latent semantic analysis

The aim of the present research is to provide a new systematic methodology to explore potential Research and Development (R&D) collaboration partners using patent information. The potential R&D collaboration partners are visualised as a patent assignee level map based on technological similarity between patents by using the network analysis. The proposed framework utilises two analytic methods to measure technological similarity. The first method, bibliographic coupling analysis, measures technological similarity based on the citation relationship using patent bibliographic information. Second, latent semantic analysis is utilised based on semantic similarity using patent textual information. The fuel cell membrane electrode assembly technology field is selected and applied to illustrate the proposed methodology. The proposed approach allows firms, universities, research institutes and governments to identify potential R&D collaborators as a systematic decision-making support tool.     

A computational analysis of R&D support programs

We compare two common government R&D support programs, R&D tax credits and direct R&D grants. To study their effectiveness and the extent to which their design matters, we analyze these programs within a dynamic equilibrium model of imperfectly competitive industries. Adopting comprehensive welfare measures that take into account government, producer and consumer surpluses, we find that both schemes exhibit positive social returns. Mid-range R&D-intensive sectors exhibit higher social returns than either high or low R&D-intensive sectors. Both incentive schemes generate positive measures of R&D input additionality of magnitudes consistent with empirical R&D research. However, R&D grants that require firms to allocate subsidy funds to R&D spur less R&D than a more flexible R&D tax credit. Subsidy schemes can even induce competing firms to over-spend on R&D, generating negative producer surplus and possibly negative social returns.     

Cournot duopoly and environmental R&D under regulator’s precommitment to an emissions tax

This study examines the environmental R&D (E-R&D) of Cournot duopolists with end-of-pipe technology under a regulator’s precommitment to an emissions tax. Under technological spillover effect, the government invariably prefers E-R&D cartelization to E-R&D competition. Highly contrary to earlier studies, consumer surplus is not necessarily maximized by environmental research joint venture cartelization, although this offers private and social incentives.     

Demand-Creating R&D in a Symmetric Oligopoly

Spillovers with demand-creating research and development (R&D) activities are investigated by revisiting a widely employed market share rivalry demand structure. Positive technological spillovers may inflict positive or negative side effects on rivals and this has important implications for the effects on innovative efforts of loose or tight R&D cooperation in symmetric oligopolies. A comparison with the effects that apply with linear demand structures and implications for empirical research are also touched upon.     

Multinational enterprises and innovation: firm level evidence on spillover via R&D collaboration

This paper estimates the knowledge spillovers to multinational enterprises (MNEs) in Sweden via domestic and foreign R&;D collaboration. Applying an augmented generalized method of moments-estimator that accounts for selectivity and simultaneity bias on data from 1,249 MNEs, our research has resulted in five distinct conclusions. First, we find that the knowledge spillovers via R&;D collaboration typically take place as a network phenomenon rather than a process between the local firm and a single innovation partner. Second, successful collaboration is conditional on the presence of foreign innovation partners in the network. Third, output is found to be an increasing function of R&;D-collaboration only among non-export oriented firms. Fourth, foreign MNEs, selling mainly to local and regional markets in Sweden, benefit more from R&;D collaboration than do other firms. Overall, the results show that demand-driven motives that require entrepreneurial knowledge to adapt products to local consumers and markets are more important for successful R&;D-collaboration than supply-driven motives.     

Endogenous R&D networks when labour unions have preferences over wages and employment

We develop a model to analyse the pattern of R&D network formation when unions have relative preferences over wages and employment. Within a three-firm industry, we show that when the unions place a low weight on wages and technological spillovers are low, a partial R&D network that includes two firms but excludes the third emerges in equilibrium. In contrast, when the unions care a lot about wages, a complete R&D network that includes all firms emerges. For all other intermediate levels of union preferences over wages, there is no strong stable equilibrium network. Empirical implications emerge from these findings, which are also discussed.     

Multistage R&D competition and patent policy

In this paper a model of multistage R&D patent policy is investigated. We study the impact of the duration of patent protection for intermediate products on R&D races when the discovery of the final product requires the accomplishment of an intermediate step. Using a multistage model where firms choose their levels of research investment at each stage, we find all subgame-perfect equilibria of the game. We also determine how competition affects a firm's level of research investment at different stages of the R&D competition.     

Environmental Policy with Endogenous Technology from a Game Theoretic Perspective: The Case of the US Pulp and Paper Industry

The merits of different types of regulatory tools in eliminating pollution and at the same time inducing innovation have long been an interest of researchers in both environmental economics and industrial organization. Although there is a substantial theoretical literature investigating the potential for various environmental policies to attain these dual goals, this is a challenging empirical problem because every industry has its own inherent characteristics that play an important role in determining the performance of different regulatory tools. The majority of the work to date focuses on pollution abatement while leaving pollution prevention understudied. In most of the literature firms are also assumed to be symmetric. Asymmetries among firms add another degree and level of complexity to their strategic interactions, and affect the performance of different regulatory tools. This paper investigates the performance of two alternative regulatory tools, an emissions performance standard and an emissions tax, in reducing pollution and inducing pollution prevention and abatement R&D in the US pulp and paper industry. We construct a model representing the industry in an asymmetric Cournot duopoly framework, calibrate the model to disaggregated industry data, and run scenarios to replicate the behavior of the firms in an imperfectly competitive output market. Our results suggest that pollution prevention R&D can respond quite differently than abatement R&D to different policy instruments. The results indicate that R&D spillovers among firms play crucial role in technology development and strategies of the firms. Our results also suggest that strategic interactions between firms in an imperfectly competitive industry can have significant impacts of the levels of both types of R&D.      

Process R&;D and Product Line Deletion by a Multiproduct Monopolist

Relative to single-product firms, a multiproduct monopolist can internalize the negative externalities of its R&D investments (the ``cannibalization effect') in two ways: (1) To lower R&D investment for each product; and (2) To delete some of its product lines so as to enlarge the market size for the remaining lines. It is shown that line deletion is profitable if products are close substitutes. If products are not close substitutes, the multiproduct monopolist keeps all product lines and invests less in cost-reducing R&D than single-product firms engaging in Cournot competition with product differentiation. However, it invests more in R&D than single-product firms if there are significant economies of scope in R&D, or if the oligopolistic firms can cooperate in their R&D decisions.      

A comparative analysis of the change in R&D efficiency: a case of R&D leaders in the technology industry

This paper measures the cumulative change in research and development (R&D) efficiency of globally leading R&D companies in the technology industry. We use Data Envelopment Analysis /Malmquist index to analyse 49 such companies. The change in R&D efficiency is analysed by decomposing the Malmquist index into ‘catch-up’ and ‘frontier shift’ indices, and by comparing cumulative indices to those at the starting period. Those cumulative indices are obtained at both a firm and an industry level. Results indicate that the overall R&D efficiency of these globally leading R&D companies declined slightly during the period 2007–2013. At a firm level, this study determines in detail how the trend of each firm in R&D activities differs from other companies.     

Open technology innovation activity and firm value: evidence from Korean firms

Despite the importance of Open Technology Innovation Activity (OTIA) for firm value, the literature investigating effects of OTIA announcements of developing country firms is not known in international academic circles. Our study using an event study approach examines the effects of OTIA (technology import and joint R&D) announcements of firms in Korea, one of the leading developing and highly innovative countries. We find that the announcements of OTIA produce positive average abnormal returns. Interestingly, unlike the prior studies on developed country firms, OTIA with firms in the homogenous industry leads to greater firm value than that involving firms in heterogenic industries. This implies an importance of a technological fusion with external firms in different industries for value of developing country firms. In addition, this article finds no home bias that a nationality of partner firms is not essential for the relation between OTIA and value of firms.     

Measuring universities’ R&D performance in China’s provinces: a multistage efficiency and effectiveness perspective

ABSTRACT

Evaluating universities’ R&D performance can serve as a tool for policymakers, enabling them to identify the best R&D practitioners for benchmarking and develop strategies for enhancing performance by highlighting areas of weakness. This study divides universities’ R&D performance into two dimensions: efficiency and effectiveness. We employ a network data envelopment analysis approach to measure universities’ R&D efficiency, and separately use a multi-index comprehensive evaluation method to assess their R&D effectiveness from a multistage perspective. We calculate the comprehensive R&D performance of universities in 30 provinces in China from 2004 to 2014. An analysis of temporal variation reveals that universities’ R&D performance in some provinces improved rapidly, increasing gaps in performance as a whole. The spatial pattern for the 30 provinces shows that universities in provinces with medium or strong R&D performance are mainly in coastal provinces and central areas in China. Finally, universities’ R&D activities are considered ‘efficient and effective’ only in a small number of provinces, while in most provinces, these activities can generally be considered ‘less efficient and effective.’ Hence, universities in provinces with different R&D performance modes should implement targeted improvement strategies according to their characteristics.