Abstract
This paper investigates how physical, organisational, institutional, cognitive, social, and ethnic proximities between inventors shape their collaboration decisions. Using a new panel of UK inventors and a novel identification strategy, this paper systematically explores the net effects of all these ‘proximities’ on co-patenting. The regression analysis allows us to identify the full effects of each proximity, both on choice of collaborator and on the underlying decision to collaborate. The results show that physical proximity is an important influence on collaboration, but is mediated by organisational and ethnic factors. Over time, physical proximity increases in salience. For multiple inventors, geographic proximity is, however, much less important than organisational, social, and ethnic links. For inventors as a whole, proximities are fundamentally complementary, while for multiple inventors they are substitutes.
Highlights
The age of the lone researcher, of the quixotic ‘basement tinkerer’ (Rabinow, 1976), or of the ‘garage inventor’ (Seaborn, 1979) is receding
While in the late 1970s around 75% of European Patent Office (EPO) patent applications in the United Kingdom (UK) were filed by individual inventors, nowadays that figure is below 15%
For ‘multiple patent’ inventors, we find that organisational proximity remains highly relevant, while cultural/ethnic factors are not relevant
Summary
The age of the lone researcher, of the quixotic ‘basement tinkerer’ (Rabinow, 1976), or of the ‘garage inventor’ (Seaborn, 1979) is receding. The romantic notion that a new Nikola Tesla will emerge from the lab with the AC motor (or a death ray) increasingly belongs to a bygone era. While in the late 1970s around 75% of EPO patent applications in the United Kingdom (UK) were filed by individual inventors, nowadays that figure is below 15%. More than 80% of all patents are registered to more than one inventor, suggesting that collaboration in research and innovation has become the norm. Larger teams are formed within firms or research centres.
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