Abstract
On the basis of econometric analysis this survey shows how patent intensity (number of patents in relation to sales) is positively influenced by technological opportunity and expected profit, and negatively by industry size and concentration. In addition, it is investigated whether patents can be used as a proxy for both inventive and innovative activity. To this question no definite answer could be given. A contradictory relationship was found between the R&D/sales ratio and the patents/sales ratio, which in this case merely shows how research based on firm data and industry data can come up with very different results. A general implication is that for studies on the Dutch manufacturing industry the aggregation from firm level to industry level should be treated with caution.
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