Foreign Inventors Research Articles

Interdependencies between international innovation partnerships: the case of Central and Eastern Europe

PurposeCompetitively multipolar international system demands bilateral and multilateral partnerships. Joint innovation signals close partnerships. Regional proximity of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to the European Union (EU) defines its research and development objectives. These objectives are additionally subjected to the USA’s geopolitical strategy in this geographical area. Hence, CEE’s limited resources require limited resources make international innovation cooperation. This paper aims to analyse whether and how CEE countries make international innovation cooperation decisions.Design/methodology/approachThis paper used Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) database of total patent applications filed to the patent cooperation treaty (PCT) with co-applicants from abroad, where co-patents with at least one foreign inventor present a measure of international innovation partnership. A vector autoregression analysis and impulse response function were used to analyse international innovation partnership choices of eight CEE OECD countries for the period 1990–2018.FindingsInnovation with the EU is of collaborative nature, commonly displaying complementary properties with the rest of the examined innovation partners, while co-patenting with the Russia and China act as substitutes or complements. Co-patenting with Russia is the most versatile, displaying both properties of collaboration and competition. Some countries exhibit complementarity in co-patenting activities with multiple partners. The significance levels of these relationships vary, indicating varying degrees of impact. Overall, these findings highlight the complex dynamics of co-patenting activities and the influence of different partners on countries’ collaborative innovation strategies.Research limitations/implicationsIn addition to significant relationships, insignificant relationships as well as those that could bring about greater synergy are flagged in the paper. Those relationships portray possible direction into which national funds could be channelled to incite cooperation between different sectors and countries, especially as innovation partnerships are not always successful and require a long time period to materialise.Originality/valueBy examining bilateral innovation partnerships, this study provides an insight into the strategic political and economic spheres of influence in the CEE region.

Comparative analysis on R&D internationalization under economy-level technological disparities and ownership-specific technological differences

PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether there are disparities in research and development (R&D) internationalization between latecomers from economy-level technological disparities and firms with ownership-specific technological capability differences in the wind turbine industry.Design/methodology/approachEmploying econometric analysis based on patent indicators, the authors examine the patent data assigned by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to the technologically advanced economy and the technologically emerging economy.FindingsThis study finds that latecomers from technologically advanced economies behave with no difference from early leaders in terms of international co-invention (INCO) but do show differences in another indicator – native ownership of foreign inventors (NOFIs). Additionally, latecomers from economy-level technological disparity show significant differences both in both INCO and NOFI. These results indicate that the latecomers from technologically advanced economies not only possess the nature of latecomers which motivates them to seek knowledge from foreign economies but also benefit from their advanced home base, thereby prompting them to internationalize and access cost-effective R&D resources. Moreover, the results demonstrate that latecomers from technologically emerging economies are more prone to engage in R&D internationalization to augment their own home base compared with firms from advanced economy.Originality/valueThis study extends the literature on R&D internationalization by introducing novel perspectives. It distinguishes some apparent distinctions of the tendency of R&D internationalization between latecomers under economy-level technological disparity as well as firms from ownership-specific technological capabilities differences. Additionally, this study disaggregates R&D internationalization into twin key dimensions: INCO and NOFI. These findings allow for a comprehensive understanding of the differences in the firm's R&D internationalization under economy-level technological disparities and ownership-specific technological differences. These findings offer valuable insights for decision-makers in navigating global innovation activities by highlighting the diverse economy-level technological advantages as well as ownership-specific advantages.

Patent citations and knowledge spillovers: an empirical analysis of Indian patents

ABSTRACT This study uses patent citations data to measure knowledge spillovers at three levels: inventor, firm, and technology. We have collected Indian patents data granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and their backward citations from 1990 to 2019. To conduct our empirical analysis, we apply the Negative Binomial (NB) and Generalised Negative Binomial Model (GNBM). To account for other factors influencing knowledge spillovers, we control for patent inventor size, applicant size, patent scope, and claims. Our findings show that US-origin inventors outperform Indian and European inventors in terms of knowledge spillover from patent citations. Similarly, US firms show better knowledge spillover performance than Indian firms, foreign firms, Indian research centres, and other ownership categories. Lastly, the knowledge spillovers in chemistry technology patents are high compared to mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and other technology categories from existing patent stock. The emperical finding of our study suggests that the government can promote knowledge spillovers from patent citations and advance India towards a knowledge-based economy by attracting foreign inventors and firms in the country, investing in domestic R&D, and developing human capital.

Moving ideas across borders: Foreign inventors, patents and FDI

AbstractThis paper explores the link between innovation, migration and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) empirically within a theoretically consistent framework. It analyses how migrant inventors enhance multinational firms' adaptive innovation performance and ultimately foster FDI towards the migrant's country of origin. Foreign migrant inventors (migrants who filed a patent in their host country) possess a unique mix of technical knowledge and cultural background that contribute to adapting Research and Development (R&D) activities for foreign markets. Therefore, FDI increases in country‐pair‐sectors with specific endogenous investment in quality, which depends on the migrants in the R&D sector. We constructed a novel panel country‐sector data set including FDI, patents and migrant inventors and applied a two‐stage structural gravity estimation procedure using migrant inventors as a valid instrument for patents. The results show sizable effects on the extensive and intensive margins of greenfield FDI.

Association Between Factors Likely to Have an Influence on Foreign Direct Investment: The Case of Jordan

Objective: The research objective is to discover associations between factors likely to have an influence on multinational corporations’ foreign direct investment in Jordan. The scope of the research and its objectives are driven by, first and foremost, the fact that there is increasing interest in MNCs’ investments in the MENA region and particularly in Jordan, and second there is a lack of academic research jointly examining the factors behind locational decisions. Research Design & Methods: This study has adopted quantitative methods (non-experimental) because we are able to measure the relationship between the set of variables and set of score. The study designed based on of international business literatures that includes economic, legal, social political factors. Questionnaire survey used to collect that data from sample of 50 companies in operate in Jordan and either owned by foreign inventors or are subsidiary of multinational companies. Findings: the study results indicate mixed views among MNCs because of the current situation and our research results demonstrate that MNCs’ location decision is immensely influenced by economic and political factors, and less by both legal and cultural factors. This indicates there is a similarity with other neighboring countries and significant difference from developed economies western countries. In addition, research finding also indicates that some MNCs mitigating their risk exposure by shifting their investments to relatively more stable business environments, such as the Gulf region and Jordan compared with other Levant countries as confirmed by the FT 2014. Implications & Recommendations: The finding of this research indicate that policy maker in Jordan should concentrate on supporting the macroeconomic environment and maintain its political stability to continue attract FDI. Contribution & Value Added: The existing MNC theory did not jointly examine the factors influencing location decisions, given the scarcity of national publications in the field of international business in Jordan, this research aims at enriching the national literature in this field.

The Contribution of High-Skilled Immigrants to Innovation in the United States

We characterize the contribution of immigrants to US innovation, both through their direct productivity as well as through their indirect spillover effects on their native collaborators. To do so, we link patent records to a database containing the first five digits of 160 million of Social Security Numbers (SSN). By combining this part of the SSN together with year of birth, we identify whether individuals are immigrants based on the age at which their Social Security Number is assigned. We find that over the course of their careers, immigrants are more productive than natives, as measured by number of patents, patent citations, and the economic value of these patents. Immigrant inventors are more likely to rely on foreign technologies, to collaborate with foreign inventors, and to be cited in foreign markets, thus contributing to the importation and diffusion of ideas across borders. Using an identification strategy that exploits premature inventor deaths, we find that immigrant collaborators create especially strong positive externalities on the innovation production of natives, while natives create especially large positive externalities on immigrant innovation production, suggesting that combining these different knowledge pools into inventor teams is important for innovation. A simple decomposition suggests that despite immigrants only making up 16% of inventors, they are responsible for 30% of aggregate US innovation since 1976, with their indirect spillover effects accounting for more than twice their direct productivity contribution.

Глобальные потоки технологического знания: место России

Technological knowledge, which is the basis for new technologies and innovation, is an important component of economic success — both on corporate and national levels. Such a role stimulates various actors to participate actively in the global race for talents who have this technological knowledge. The paper discusses if Russia is a successful participant of the race. It analyses the two datasets of patent documents (as for 2010–2019): 1) with Russian inventors and foreign assignees — to study the ‘outflow’ of technological knowledge from the country, and 2) with foreign inventors and Russian assignees — to measure the scope of its inflow. The results of the study demonstrate that Russia is still more a donor for the leading countries, than a recipient of technological knowledge from abroad. Russian inventors are actively involved into collaboration with foreign companies, being in demand in many global corporations, especially in the ICT field. The inflow of technological knowledge is less intense, and its key source is the post-soviet countries, in geographical proximity to Russia. One of the possible reasons for this disproportion is a lack of organizations in the country, capable to compete for talents on the global arena. Due to a specific business climate and a low interest of Russian business in R&D and innovation, an important role in recruitment of high-skilled specialists from abroad is played by the leading universities. Research institutes (including those of Russian Academy of Sciences) seem to be in the least advantaged position.

CONNECTING INTERNATIONAL RiD COOPERATION AND TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIZATION IN OECD COUNTRIES

Technology specialization is supported by processes combining inhouse and external innovation. Applying a macroeconomic and international trade theory approach (Linder, 1961), country specialization depends on international RiD cooperation partnerships. External, international RiD cooperation is essential for technology specialization, as it raises awareness of countries’ position on a global technology map. This paper studies international RiD cooperation as a determinant of countries’ technology specialization. Cross-country panel regression was done on a sample of 37 OECD countries for the period 1980-2018. The analysis examined the effect of international RiD cooperation on technology specialization. Data were obtained from the OECD database. Co-patenting with foreign inventors was used to indicate the level of international RiD cooperation. Patent per technology was used to calculate technology specialization based on the Herfindahl index. Results indicate a positive effect of international RiD cooperation on technology specialization. The effect of RiD cooperation on technology specialization is more pronounced when GDP and RiD expenditure were used as control variables. Additionally, the size of the GDP negatively affects technology specialization. This paper identifies international cooperation as a bridge for global information exchange, which results with countries’ technology specialization.

Academic patents and entrepreneurial intention. To what extent are other knowledge transfer mechanisms affected in a Mexican university?

This research aims to expand the explanations about the debate on academic entrepreneurship and other knowledge transfer mechanisms, to respond to what extent entrepreneurial intention affects the diffusion and dissemination of knowledge in a Mexican university. The lack of indicators of commercial activity, leads us to propose the analysis of a pre-commercial stage of technology that we call entrepreneurial intention. After the literature review, we present a database of academic inventors in patents granted to the university, identifying patenting with an entrepreneurial intention, following Lomas (1993) knowledge transfer taxonomy. Data about publications and received citations by academic inventors is also considered for knowledge diffusion; as well as the supervision of end-of-degree projects in undergraduate and graduate studies; before and after the patent was granted, for knowledge dissemination. Using a binomial model, we estimated two data sets, one for the period 1984-2000 and the second for 2001-2020. Our findings reveal, an average increase of 60% in the number of patents obtained. We also found that the characteristics of the research group are significant in both models, but in the 2001-2020 period it is more important to integrate foreign inventors than patenting with firms, the dissemination of knowledge is more significant and has greater importance in the model. To respond to what extent entrepreneurial intention affects the diffusion and dissemination of knowledge, greater attention should be paid to the diffusion of knowledge since in both models the variable that represents publications after patenting is not significant. The explanation about the dissemination of knowledge improves substantially from one period to another.

Patent Examination Outcomes and the National Treatment Principle

One of the principles enshrined in all international patent treaties is that equal treatment should be provided to inventors regardless of their nationality. Little is known about whether this ‘national treatment’ principle is upheld in practice. We analyze whether patent examination outcomes at the European and Japanese patent offices vary systematically by inventor nationality and technology area using a matched sample of 47,947 patent applications. We find that domestic inventors have a higher likelihood of obtaining a patent grant than foreign inventors, and that the positive domestic inventor effect is stronger in areas of technological specialization in the domestic economy.

Sorrowful processions Peter the Great: principles of decoration and their evolution in the imperial funeral ceremonies of the XVIII century

This research reveals the basic principles of the mourning decorations created for the burial of Peter the Great, and traces their fate in the Russian imperial sorrowful processions throughout the XVIII century. Decorative arrangement of state ceremonies is viewed in the context of the panegyric culture of that time. Ceremonial decoration was of temporary (occasional) nature and have been scarcely preserved; other than certain artifacts. The research is based on examination of a wide variety of written and graphic sources that allow reconstructing the image of funeral processions of that time. It is demonstrated that that in preparation for the funerals of Peter the Great, were developed certain patterns of mourning decoration preserved throughout the entire XVIII century. The principles of decorative arrangement of Russian imperial sorrowful processions were based on the European examples, and in many ways by inviting the foreign inventors and masters. The system of creation of mourning ensembles (as well as festive) obeyed the general laws inherent to the court ceremonial culture of Modern Age. The artistic solution of memorial halls and hearses corresponded to the stylistic evolution of art. The author introduces new materials and previously unknown facts into the scientific discourse, as well as clarifies the questions of terminology.

Discrimination against Foreigners: The Wuerttemberg Patent Law in Administrative Practice

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the patent office of the German state Wuerttemberg strategically discriminated against foreign inventors by charging comparatively high patent fees. We show that this administrative practice was driven by fiscal and protectionist motives.

Discrimination against foreigners in the U.S. patent system

Inventions of foreign origin are about ten percentage points less likely to be granted a U.S. patent than domestic inventions. An empirical analysis of 1.5 million U.S. patent applications identifies three systematic differences between foreign and domestic patent applications that partly explain this bias. They include differences in patent agents, the financial resources of the applicants, and the level of effort that applicants put into the prosecution process. We find no evidence of disparate treatment (‘intentional discrimination’) of foreigners. Instead, our evidence points to a disparate impact (‘unintentional discrimination’) of the U.S. patent system on foreign inventors. Our results suggest unequal access to the patent system for foreigners compared to locals (but also for small U.S. firms). Giving examiners the power of (truly) rejecting a patent application may be one solution to level the playing field between foreigners and locals, but also between large and small firms.

Migrant inventors and the technological advantage of nations

We investigate the relationship between the presence of migrant inventors and the dynamics of innovation in the migrants’ receiving countries. We find that countries are 25 to 60% more likely to gain advantage in patenting in certain technologies given a twofold increase in the number of foreign inventors from other nations that specialize in those same technologies. For the average country in our sample, this number corresponds to only 25 inventors and a standard deviation of 135. We deal with endogeneity concerns by using historical migration networks to instrument for stocks of migrant inventors. Our results generalize the evidence of previous studies that show how migrant inventors “import” knowledge from their home countries, which translates into higher patenting in the receiving countries. We interpret these results as tangible evidence of migrants facilitating the technology-specific diffusion of knowledge across nations.

Do Patents Foster International Technology Transfer? Evidence from Spanish Steelmaking, 1850-1930

Why do developing countries protect the intellectual property rights (IPR) of foreign inventors? Does this facilitate technology transfer from the industrial frontier? This paper addresses those questions by telling the story of when and how technology was transferred through patent licensing to Spanish iron and steelmakers from the rest of Europe. It focuses on the period between 1850 and 1929, during which foreigners’ IPR were relatively well protected. Modern steelmaking was a quantum leap over previous techniques vis-a-vis scale and sophistication. In turn, this required a revolution in technology, knowledge, and skills. However, the transition to modern steelmaking was marked by a challenging process that has gone largely unrecognized by researchers: inventors had to find ways to transfer tacit knowledge to adopters that was inordinately difficult to codify, as it was arrived at via intuition and learning-by-doing. Patents played a key role in broadcasting new steelmaking techniques to Spaniards working in that industry. They also helped Spaniards connect with original, foreign inventors and establish enduring relationships with them. The latter shared their knowhow and expertise with the former under the aegis of licensing agreements and brought them into their networks of suppliers and technicians. Moreover, when disruptive steelmaking innovations were patented in Spain, this spurred second generation foreign inventors to patent improvements. It also induced Spanish inventors to contribute their own add on innovations, which they themselves patented.

Discrimination Against Foreigners in the U.S. Patent System

Inventions of foreign origin are about ten percentage points less likely to be granted a U.S. patent than domestic inventions. An empirical analysis of 1.5 million U.S. patent applications identifies three systematic differences between foreign and domestic patent applications that partly explain this bias. They include differences in patent agents, financial resources of the applicants, and the level of effort that applicants put into the prosecution process. We find no evidence of disparate treatment (‘intentional discrimination’) of foreigners. Instead, our evidence points to a disparate impact (‘unintentional discrimination’) of the U.S. patent system on foreign inventors. Our results suggest unequal access to the patent system for foreigners compared to locals (but also for small U.S. firms). Giving examiners the power of (truly) rejecting a patent application may be one solution to level the playing field between foreigners and locals, but also between large and small firms.

Inventions and patenting in Africa: Empirical trends from 1970 to 2010.

Economic development is increasingly dependent upon on utilizing new knowledge to innovate and create value, even in traditional industries and in low‐income countries. This analysis uses evidence on patent families to assess innovation activity throughout sub‐Saharan Africa. We find patent activity in sub‐Saharan Africa—both by African inventors and by foreign inventors—is comparable to similar regions around the world, when conditioned on economic size. Patent filings in Africa have grown, particularly, since the mid‐1990s, but at different rates within different African jurisdictions. Types of technologies being patented in Africa have remained stable over 30 years, with most in pharmaceuticals, chemistry, biotechnology, and engineering. The majority of patent filings in Africa are from Europe, the United States, and other high income countries. Yet, in South Africa, between 15% and 20% of patent filings are by residents of South Africa, and 3% are from other developing and emerging economies. Only a small share of inventions globally are made in sub‐Saharan Africa, but for those inventions that do arise in Africa, foreign filings are made widely outside of Africa.

Spatial determinants of inventive capacity in Brazil: the role of inventor networks

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the role of inventor networks in regional inventive capacity in Brazil for 558 regions in the period 2000–11. Based on the knowledge-production function (KPF), it focuses on four network measurements: intra- and interregional collaborative inventor links, density of the network, and international collaboration among Brazilian and foreign inventors. The main results show that intra-regional inventive collaborations exert a positive impact, while denser networks negatively influence regional inventive productivity. Interregional collaborative links have a ‘U’-shape relationship with inventive productivity only for South and Southeast. Inventions in the North, Northeast and Centre–West rely on international collaborative links.

Foreign inventors in Europe and the United States: Diversity and Patent Quality

We explore the impact of migrant inventors on patent quality in Europe and the United States between 1990 and 2010. Drawing on a large sample of patent applications filed at the European Patent Office with a corresponding Patent Cooperation Treaty extension, we select inventor teams whose members reside in the countries of interest, but whose nationality may vary. In keeping with the literature, we find that migrant inventors are associated with higher quality patents via increased diversity at the team level, in addition to increased diversity at both the company and local level. This positive relationship with diversity persists after conditioning for the presence of migrants in the team, which is suggestive of cultural, and not merely functional, diversity.

Migrant Inventors and the Technological Advantage of Nations

We investigate the relationship between the presence of migrant inventors and the dynamics of innovation in the migrants’ receiving countries. We find that countries are 25 to 50 percent more likely to gain advantage in patenting in certain technologies given a twofold increase in the number of foreign inventors from other nations that specialize in those same technologies. For the average country in our sample this number corresponds to only 25 inventors and a standard deviation of 135. We deal with endogeneity concerns by using historical migration networks to instrument for stocks of migrant inventors. Our results generalize the evidence of previous studies that show how migrant inventors “import� knowledge from their home countries which translate into higher patenting. We complement our results with micro-evidence showing that migrant inventors are more prevalent in the first bulk of patents of a country in a given technology, as compared to patents filed at later stages. We interpret these results as tangible evidence of migrants facilitating the technology-specific diffusion of knowledge across nations.