Academic Patenting in Europe (APE-INV)

The key aims of the project are the creation and diffusion of a harmonized database on academic patenting in Europe. Two related aims are the creation of an on-line system for updating the database through the collection of users’ information, to be soon extended to a larger patent database containing information on all inventors, not just the academic ones; and the exploitation of the harmonized data through a number of jointly publications.

The proposed network includes all European social scientists who have recently produced original data and studies on the patenting of inventions stemming from academic research. All of the databases produced by the included scientists share a common methodological trait, which is the choice of inventors (i.e. physical persons) as the observation unit. This choice is explained by the institutional features of European universities and related IPR laws, which grant scientists substantial freedom in allocating the property rights over their research results. The national studies produced so far prove that academic patenting in Europe is an extensive phenomenon, much more common than presumed by most policy-makers, and comparable to what is observed in the USA. Integration of the national databases is both feasible and desirable, and will allow for international comparative studies on the effects of new legal and policy instruments on technology transfer through patenting.

The database will allow for the investigation of the economic returns of academic patenting at the scientist, university, and industry level. It will also help to investigate the extent of synergies and trade-offs between patenting and other technology transfer means such as consultancy, mobility of  personnel, as well as teaching, conferencing, and publishing. Finally, it will provide the basis for the creation of a larger database on inventors in Europe, to be used in studies on knowledge diffusion and labour mobility.