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.     

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.     

R&D and patenting activities of foreign firms in China: The case of Japan

This study investigates the research and development (R&D) and patenting activities of foreign firms in China. Utilizing a panel dataset of Japanese affiliates during the period 2001–2007, we first examine the determinants of R&D activity and find that local market-oriented firms place more emphasis on R&D, whereas process export-oriented firms are less likely to conduct R&D. Affiliates within a large business group that has more affiliates have a higher propensity to undertake R&D. Using only firms with positive R&D expenditures, we next estimate the patent production function. Results indicate that the patent elasticity of R&D for Japanese affiliates is high, suggesting that they are more productive on patent production than other firms. Moreover, local market-oriented firms do need more patents to protect their products, whereas scientific firms demonstrate a lower willingness to register patents in China.     

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.     

Patenting and Early Industrialization in Norway, 1860–1914. Was there a Linkage?

Abstract

The Norwegian patent system was formally established in 1839. For many years the interest in the patent institution and in patenting was moderate. The first real increase in patenting occurred in the 1870s and 80s. The paper will examine and analyse the development in patenting, and the patent institution (legislation, administration) from about this period until 1914. An explicit focus of the analysis is the relationship between patenting and industrialization. There has been an issue among Norwegian economic historians if or when there was an industrial breakthrough in Norway. So far, patents, patent policy and the role of the patent institution have not been related to this question. This paper will therefore investigate in which way the system was developed to stimulate modernization and industrialization.     

基于专利的区域科技研发人才分析

通过分析授权发明专利的发明人相关数据来发现研发人才分布特征是一种新探索,解决了战略性新兴产业分类、专利IPC分类和研发人才领域分类对应关系复杂的问题,完成了对15个副省级城市专利发明人分领域相关数据的提取建库和一个样本城市细分领域研发人才的数据建库,进而比较分析研发人才分布特征,并耦合分析相关新兴产业发展态势。     

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.     

基于专利的区域科技研发人才分析

通过分析授权发明专利的发明人相关数据来发现研发人才分布特征是一种新探索，解决了战略性新兴产业分类、专利IPC分类和研发人才领域分类对应关系复杂的问题，完成了对15个副省级城市专利发明人分领域相关数据的提取建库和一个样本城市细分领域研发人才的数据建库，进而比较分析研发人才分布特征，并耦合分析相关新兴产业发展态势。     

Could government lead the way? Evaluation of China's patent subsidy policy on patent quality

As China aimed to transform her growth into an innovation-driven model, we study the impact of China's effort to promote technology inventions. By linking to Google Patents, we compile a comprehensive set of patent quality indicators. Based on Chinese provincial panel data from 1995 to 2010, we find that the effect of the implemented patent subsidy policies on quantity, as well as various quality metrics of patents, was significantly positive. Moreover, the explanation power of subsidy policies on both patent quantity and quality diminished as time goes by. We also find that the effect of these policies depended on the growth rate of experienced innovators rather than entrants. Since the implemented policies we study in this paper were designed to focus on subsidizing expenses incurred during the patenting process, our results show that the provided partial funding led the way for improving China's patent quality.     

专利视域下青岛市战略性新兴产业发展现状及对策

基于incoPat专利平台，对2011-2021年青岛市战略性新兴产业发明专利开展统计分析，从专利申请授权趋势和生命周期等揭示了青岛市战略性新兴产业发展现状，并对授权发明专利从公开趋势、有效性、申请人、技术领域、区市分布以及转让许可等多维度开展深入分析。结果表明，近10年来青岛市战略性新兴产业专利发展态势持续向好，但专利海外布局意识有待加强；生物、新材料和节能环保产业的专利申请量最多，但研发能力和创新质量有待提升；驻青高校及科研院所在青岛市战略性新兴产业创新发展及成果转化中发挥了重要作用；崂山、黄岛和市南三区的专利创新活动最为活跃，但产业侧重各有不同，而青岛市区市间、产业间专利创新活动仍存在发展不均衡现象。     

创新与经济增长:基于区域面板数据的bootsrtap格兰杰因果关系检验

以专利授权量作为创新产出指标,应用面板数据的bootstrap 格兰杰因果关系的Wald 检验方法,在似不相关回归系统下,检验了我国长三角地区专利与区域经济增长之间的格兰杰因果关系。研究结果表明,浙江和上海两省市发明专利与经济增长之间存在双向格兰杰因果关系,江苏省具有发明专利授权量对经济增长的单向因果关系,而安徽省两者之间不存在因果关系。另外,实用新型和外观设计专利与经济增长在所有省市都不存在任何方向的因果关系。     

Measurement of English farming technological change, 1523–1900

I have argued that for the period from 1661 to 1850, patent data in England were consistent in that no official changes in methods and standards of issuance occurred. Book data on titles published on farming production methods were similarly consistent from 1523 to the mid-19th century because the market for books developed gradually and the technology of printing was not substantially changed until the mid-19th century.My main point is that data on output of titles of books on farming productive techniques in England are useful measures of technological change. Books did have information on good production methods and could express productive ideas where a patent may not be issued. Further, the literacy rate of farmers was high so that books were likely an important source of ideas on farming production methods. Finally, the fluctuations in the book data were highly related to the fluctuations in the patent data, suggesting that a common set of factors caused those fluctuations. The high correlations between the detrended book and patent data indicate that if we accept patenting as a useful measure of technology we may also accept book title output of a technical nature as a good measure of technical change.I used the data for a simple analysis of the trend growth rate of agricultural technology in England from 1551 to 1850. While there is limited evidence to show that the subperiod 1651–1750 saw a slowing in the trend of development of farming technology, I argue that a division of the entire period into subperiods is too simplistic. A more fruitful approach would be an analysis of the underlying forces that determined the trend of development of the technology of English agriculture.The next step is an analysis of the forces that influenced technological development of English farming. From an economic point of view, market forces play an important role in influencing technology. Because such an analysis deserves careful consideration, I leave that to another paper (see Sullivan and Simon, 1983).     

The “hidden” side of the “flying-geese” catch-up model: Japan’s dirigiste institutional setup and a deepening financial morass

Akamatsu’s original “flying geese” (FG) growth model is often used as a frame of reference for both further conceptual elaborations and empirical explorations. So far, only the positive results of FG development have been focused on and emphasized in connection with Asia’s phenomenal growth in the precrisis period. The Japanese economy, supposedly Asia’s lead goose, is in the eleventh consecutive year of stagnation. How has such a once successful lead goose come to be stricken by financial woes? This paper points out that Japan’s once miraculous FG growth was made possible because it established an effective dirigiste catch-up regime in the early postwar period but that Japan’s present financial predicament is paradoxically a path-dependent outcome of this FG strategy. The institutional, especially financial, dimension of FG strategy needs to be taken into account to explain why such a strategy once proved effective but later culminated in a deepening financial morass. The FG model should encompass not only the industrial dimension of catch-up but also its institutional, particularly financial, dimension.     

Broadband internet and enterprise innovation

Based on microdata from China's listed companies and macrodata for broadband internet access in prefecture-level cities, this paper explores the relationship between broadband internet and enterprise innovation. Using the change in market concentration caused by the North–South separation reform of China Telecom in 2002 as an instrumental variable, the results show that in general, a 1% increase in broadband internet access results in a 1.395% increase in the number of corporate patents. Specifically, the number of valid patents, patent citations and valid patent citations, reflecting patent quality, increases by 1.499%, 0.920% and 0.763%, respectively. The mechanistic analysis shows that broadband internet access contributes to increasing the number of R&D personnel and personal innovation efficiency, enhancing enterprises' willingness to innovate, and easing financing constraints. Further analysis suggests that broadband internet access mainly promotes invention patents rather than design patents. The innovation effect is more evident among high-tech, inventor-intensive, state-owned enterprises and enterprises located in the non-southeastern coastal region of China.     

公共风险资本的介入对企业技术创新能力影响的实证研究——基于深圳创业板市场经验分析

文章尝试从研发投入、董事会参与和联合投资三个方面探索公共风险资本对目标企业技术创新能力的作用机理,并通过创业板市场的数据进行实证检验。发现,公共风险资本的介入对企业研发投入的影响不显著,而对企业的发明专利有显著的正向作用,但其持股比例则有反向的影响;此外,公共风险资本的介入和研发投入以及董事会参与的交互效应并不一致。还发现,公共风险资本运用联合投资策略能够促进目标企业总的创新产出,但这主要归功于其联合投资伙伴。     

“Imaginary” or “Real” Moneys of Account in Medieval Europe? An Econometric Analysis of the Basle Pound, 1365–1429

During the Middle Ages, the medium of exchange function of money was separate from the unit of account function. This has given rise to the misconception that the medieval pound was an “abstract” or “imaginary” unit of account whose purchasing power was independent of that of gold and silver coins. The joint behavior of the pound price of gold, the pound price of silver, and the silver–gold ratio in Basle between 1365 and 1429 cannot be reconciled with the notion that nominal values were autonomous. Instead, the monetary system was based on a silver standard, supplemented by gold coins whose money of account values were determined by this silver standard.     

Patenting in England,Scotland and Ireland during the Industrial Revolution, 1700–1852

There are two competing accounts for explaining Britain's technological transformation during the Industrial Revolution. One sees it as the inevitable outcome of a largely exogenous increase in the supply of new ideas and ways of thinking. The other sees it as a demand side response to economic incentives—that in Britain, it paid to invent the technology of the Industrial Revolution. However, this second interpretation relies on the assumption that inventors were sufficiently responsive to new commercial opportunities. This paper tests this assumption, using a new dataset of Scottish and Irish patents. It finds that the propensity of inventors to extend patent protection into Scotland and/or Ireland was indeed closely correlated with the relative market opportunity of the patented invention.     

The roots of today's “women's jobs” and “men's jobs”: Using the index of dissimilarity to measure occupational segregation by gender

Looked at broadly, occupational distributions by sex in the United States have changed remarkably little since 1900; accordingly, researchers have found a slow rate of decline in the index of dissimilarity (a measure of occupational segregation by gender), estimates of which have so far been confined to the 20th century. This paper analyzes trends in the index over the latter part of the 19th century. The results indicate that during this period, industrialization and the associated changes in the nature of the business enterprise resulted in a rapid declinne in occupational segregation by gender, as measured by the index. This decline occurs earliest in cities experiencing early industrialization. Index estimates are presented for the United States and for selected midwestern cities, and changes in the index are decomposed into occupational mix effects and sex composition effects. Occupation-specific index changes are used to identify which occupations influenced changes in the overall index. The results indicate that the dynamic occupational shifts of the 19th century set the stage for the “men's jobs” and “women's jobs” that have been so persistently stable in the 20th century.     

From New Order to Regional Autonomy: Shifting Dynamics of “Illegal” Logging in Kalimantan, Indonesia

In recent years there has been a tendency to view the seemingly irremediable spread of “illegal” logging in Indonesia in isolation, or as a result of disassociated and premeditated criminal acts. This paper proposes a different view of the problem by discussing the changing dynamics of the “illegal” logging sector in the two districts of Berau, East Kalimantan and Kotawaringin Timur, Central Kalimantan. It suggests that “illegal” logging is not a simple case of criminality, but a complex economic and political system involving multiple stakeholders. Furthermore, “illegal” logging is not a stationary condition that can be effectively dealt with through coercive or repressive measures alone. Rather, it should be viewed as a dynamic and changing system deeply engrained in the realities of rural life in Indonesia. Regional autonomy has also created a supportive environment for the “illegal” logging trade and allowed it to gain resilience.