From patent counting towards the system of IP strategic indicators

Abstract

The strategies of the European Union and its Member States suppose that intellectual property (IP) created as the result of R&D is the engine of economic growth and welfare in society. Studies based on the European Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS) have demonstrated that R&D investments, support to the high technology industry and patenting intensity of the public sector differ in high- and low-income European countries. This fact refers to the need for adequate IP strategic indicators’ system facilitating innovation in less developed countries. The paper aims to conceptualize and suggest a strategic indicators’ system of IP for a small efficiency-driven economy. In contrast to the rather modest level of patenting by industry, universities of the Baltic States file approximately 50% of PCT patent applications. Therefore, it is crucial to overcome barriers, hindering universities’ IP commercialization. Academia-Industry collaboration includes two types of IP strategies: Active non-linear and Passive linear behavioural models of universities and public sector. An essential part of the active approach focuses on the “soft measures” for networking with firms in collaborative platforms such as AIMday® at the Uppsala University in Sweden. The proposed IP strategy system involves qualitative and quantitative indicators at the state as well as university and company level. The comparison of academic publishing and patenting by the staffs of Tartu and Uppsala universities testifies to their rather same levels of productivity. Three times wider patent families of the inventions of Uppsala origin characterize actors’ market ambition as well as the strength of University-Industry linkages that are more developed in Uppsala than in Tartu. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.27.3.13799