Invention Patent Applications Research Articles

Family involvement, family member composition and firm innovation

Based on the data of Chinese listed family firms from 2008 to 2016, we investigate the impact of family involvement on firm innovation and the moderating effect of family member composition. The results show that increased family involvement significantly reduces R&D investment intensity and the number of patent applications. With the increased richness of the kinship of family members involved in management, the negative impact of family involvement on patent applications is weakened, but family member composition does not have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between family involvement and R&D investment intensity. Further analysis shows that the number of invention patent applications decreases as the degree of family involvement increases, but family involvement has no significant effect on utility model patent and design patent applications. Family member composition has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between family involvement and invention patent applications. The results have value as a reference for exploring how family involvement affects firm innovation and can also help the actual controller to take effective measures to optimize family member composition and improve the innovation performance of family firms.

Trade policy uncertainty and innovation: Firm level evidence from China’s WTO accession

This study proposes a novel channel through which trade liberalization may induce innovation through the reduction of trade policy uncertainties (TPU) in destination markets. To verify this linkage, we utilize the significant reduction of TPU engendered by China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 as a quasi-natural experiment. We find that reduction in TPU significantly encourages firms’ patent application: firms in sectors with a larger reduction in uncertainty filed more invention patent applications after China’s WTO accession. We also find that firms’ innovation responses to TPU reduction vary by productivity, ownership, exporting status, and the irreversibility of investment.

Basic research intensity and diversified performance: the moderating role of government support intensity

The relationship between basic research intensity and diversified performance is a very important problem that has not theoretically answered. Based on the panel data of universities directly under the ministry of education, considering the three missions of the university and the typical characteristics of basic research, we subdivide the diversified performance into innovation performance, economic performance, social performance and international cooperation performance. We find that enhancing the intensity of basic research can increase the number of patent applications and invention patent applications, but cannot increase the total number of paper publications and the number of English paper publications. Meanwhile, improving basic research intensity does not necessarily promote economic performance, while the promotion effect on social performance needs a lag period of 1 year. Furthermore, enhancing basic research intensity does not necessarily significantly improve international cooperation performance, and even has a significant negative impact after lagged 2 periods. Finally, government support intensity only plays a moderating role between basic research intensity and innovation performance, but not between basic research intensity and other types of performance. This reveals that the government plays a key role in the stage of knowledge production, but its role in the stage of knowledge transformation is relatively limited.

Exploring firms’ innovation capabilities through learning systems

In this study, several machine learning-based experimental methods are used to analyse firms’ research and development (R&D)-related activities and predict their technological innovation performance. Using unbalanced panel data from the CSMAR database for all listed firms in China from 2008 to 2018, we analyse the firms’ basic information, R&D investment, patent application and authorization activity, financial status, and human capital. We use a logistic regression model, decision tree model, three weak classifiers random forest model, XGBoost model, and two weak classifiers gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) model to integrate strong classifiers separately. A comparison of the results produced using the different models shows that the performance of the XGBoost model is better than that of the other models in terms of net profit, total sales revenue, and the number of invention patent applications as a proportion of the total number of patent applications. However, the performance of the GBDT model is significantly better than that of the other models in terms of the number of patent applications per 100,000 yuan of R&D expenditure. The results of this study can help scholars to accurately predict the innovation performance of firms and help business managers to make better decisions to improve the innovation performance of their firms in the current era of rapid technological change.

Does gender structure influence R&D efficiency? A regional perspective

The gender structure in research and development (R&D) activities has received more and more attention in terms of its increasing importance in R&D management, but it is still not clear what the R&D efficiency discrepancy between female and male personnel is in the science and technology (S&T) field and whether the gender structure affects the R&D efficiency. Based on the region-level panel dataset of China’s research institutes, this study uses four types of R&D outputs (papers, books, patents and standards) together and individually to measure R&D efficiency score to reveal this topic. When four types of R&D outputs are jointly considered, this paper applies the multi-output stochastic frontier analysis and finds that in general the higher proportion of male R&D personnel produces the higher R&D efficiency. Nevertheless, in terms of S&T papers or S&T books as a single R&D output, we find that the higher proportion of female R&D personnel leads to the higher R&D efficiency. On the contrary, the R&D efficiency is lower with the higher proportion of female R&D personnel when the single R&D output is measured by invention patent applications or national/industrial standards, respectively. Our findings suggest that the female R&D personnel are more effective in conducting scientific research activities, while their counterparts are more effective in doing technology development activities.

Spectrograms comparison between normal and abnormal signal of in vivo mammary tissue, obtained by back-scattering infrared light

High breast cancer incidence and mortality rates in Colombian women motivated the research group CIMBIOS to develop methodologies for early detection of cancer. To this aim, a method to study alterations in breast tissue has been proposed by CIMBIOS. Colombian invention patent application No NC2017 / 0003413 describes its method. A technological design called FEDSA emerged from this process. With FEDSA, the breast was irradiated in vivo (near infrared), and the back-scattering light by tissue was measured. Twenty-four women with seventeen normal and seven abnormal diagnoses were studied with this device, and intensity as a function of time was obtained for them. Data pre-processing to eliminate white noise was implemented, and fast Fourier transforms with two sampling windows, 512 and 1024, was applied. With the squared magnitude of the FFT, 1104 spectrograms were constructed, or 48 spectrograms per patient. Abnormal and normal spectrogram were labeled according to their clinical history, and these data were ordered by sampling window and frequency. Differences between normal and abnormal tissue in the breast quadrants were found with the statistical method ANOVA. In the breasts, outer upper and lower quadrant, and inner upper right in abnormal and normal women were different with p<0.05. These results agree with the clinical history of patients with abnormal classification.

PATENTING OF DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIELD OF NEUROSURGERY: REALITY AND PROSPECTS

Implementation of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 7, 2018, No. 204 “On the national goals and strategic tasks of the development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2024” assumes that Russia should move from 8th to 5th position in the world for the number of patent applications for inventions during 6 years. The paper analyzes the patent activity of inventors in the field of medicine on the example of spinal neurosurgery. Analysis of patent documents demonstrates that developments in the field of spinal neurosurgery have currently a high potential for commercialization throughout the world. However, domestic developers should pay due attention to the full scope of legal protection of their inventions to take a leading position in the world market.

Ceo compensationand firminnovation; interaction effect of ownership structure

The purpose of this paper was to understand the impact of CEO compensation (fixed and variable) on firm innovation (measured through, R&D investment, patents application, invention patent application, utility patents application, propensity to patent and conversion). The authors proposed that this relationship is affected by state-ownership. The authors described the moderating impact of ownership structures, on the earlier prescribed relationship, in a transitional economy in a holistic manner. Authors tested those above direct and moderating relationships in the context of China, by taking all A share companie, excluding financial companies, listed at Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock exchanges from 2007–2016. Authors used year and industry effect and panel data analysis to infer the results. The study revealed that CEO compensation was positively and significantly associated with firm innovation, except for R&D investment. In other words, if CEOs are paid adequately, they will focus on the optimal use of resources. State-ownership adversely but significantly moderatd the patent application process. However, its moderating impact on the propensity to patent and conversion was positive and it indicated its value in expediting the innovation process. This study introduced necessary managerial implications, to consider the variables mentioned above, before/during/after the innovation process. CEO pay, ownership structures and innovations stages are interrelated and that the moderating impact of ownership structure presented many different horizons for managerial consideration, in a transitional economy like that of China.

Big Data Analytics for Venture Capital Application：Towards Innovation Performance Improvement

By using the panel date of Chinese enterprises, this paper analyzes the influence of venture capital on innovation performance. In this paper, the number of patent application and the patent quality(invention patent applications, number of effective patents, IPC number of international patent classification, and patent claims) are used to measure the innovation performance of enterprises, and the regression results show that the innovation performance is significantly promoted by the venture capital; for industries with higher dependence on external financing and high technology intensity and areas with better protection of property rights, venture capital promotes innovation performance more significantly. In this paper, it further distinguishes the characteristics of venture capital institutions, and finds that the promotion effect of non-state-owned venture capital on innovation performance is significantly greater than that of state-owned venture capital; the venture capital institutions with high reputation and high network capital play a more significant role in promoting innovation performance.

Syringes and catheters – prospects for overcoming import dependence in the context of the implementation of the national project “Science”

As part of the implementation of the approved presidential decrees “On the strategy of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation” and the national project “Science”, the Russian Federation should take leading positions in a number of scientific areas, including taking by 2024 the 5th place in the amount of patent applications for inventions. The current patent activity of domestic developers in the field of devices for administering drugs to the body or applying them onto the skin of a person is analyzed. A comparison study of inventive activity of domestic and foreign developers is presented. The data obtained demonstrate the extremely low patent activity of domestic developers compared with their foreign colleagues.

Where to Go: Trade Protectionism or Open Competition? Evidence from Micro-enterprise Innovation

Where to Go: Trade Protectionism or Open Competition? Evidence from Micro-enterprise Innovation

What determines the duration of patent examination in China? An outcome-specific duration analysis of invention patent applications at SIPO

Although China is now the largest patent filing country in the world, research on the duration and outcomes of patent examination remains scarce. In this study, we conduct a replication and extension of Harhoff and Wagner’s (2009) work on the determinants of patent examination duration at the European Patent Office (EPO), using a rich dataset covering the population of about 1.1 million invention patent applications to China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) from 1993 to 2006. By considering all three competing examination outcomes (grant, withdrawal, and refusal) simultaneously, our competing risks analysis replicates many of the results in prior research and confirms that a number of the determinants have differential effects on pendencies for different outcomes. Our analysis also reveals several applicant and application characteristics whose effects on pendencies for specific outcomes differ from prior research. Finally, by incorporating a number of new determinants, we report a set of new findings about their effects on the examination duration for the three outcomes at SIPO.

Development and Current Situation Analysis of Patents from First Class Hospitals in Shanghai

Objective This paper analyzed the development and current situation of patents from first class hospitals in Shanghai, reflecting the development of scientific researches, providing medical science research management with data support as the basis of decision making. Methods Based on patent search and analysis of State Intellectual Property Office of The P. R.C and Incopat, a technology innovation intelligence platform with global patent information, patents from first class hospitals in Shanghai published before the year of 2015 are analyzed from aspects including patent category, legal status, time trend, applicants of invention patent, proprietor and inventors of authorized invention patents, transfer of invention patents, etc. Results First class hospitals in Shanghai had 1979 invention patents, which accounted to 56.38% of the total. 71.21% of invalid invention patents fell into abeyance because of withdraw, rejection, and abandon, which was 2.47 times of those due to termination. Eight hospitals including Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital and Huashan Hospital were at the top of both the invention patent application list and the authorized invention patent list, both accounting to more than sixty percent. Conclusions The number of invention patents has gone through germination stage, developing rapidly in recent years, the ratio of authorized inventions appears to decline slightly after rise. The reasons of patent invalidation are worthy of attention, the information about legal status of patents can be reasonably used, applicants and inventors shows uneven distribution, patent quality should be emphasized with quantity rise, cross regional and cross border cooperation can bring about complementary advantages. Key words: Shanghai; Hospital; Patent

The structure and dynamics of intra- and inter-regional research collaborative networks: The case of China (1985–2008)

Intra- and inter-regional research collaboration are two faces of regional innovation relations. This paper develops a multilevel network model of intra- and inter-regional research collaboration using co-patents. It then applies the model and social network analysis (SNA) to the Chinese case by examining collaborative invention patent applications to China's patent office. Over the past two decades, both China's intra- and inter-regional networks have been expanding in size, becoming more cohesive, and reflecting the “core-periphery” structure. In particular, inter-regional networks have begun to reflect characteristics of a triangle in space in which the most active collaborations occur between the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Bohai Rim, with many regions from 2000 onwards shifting from the high/low quadrant to the low/low quadrant within the two-dimension quadrant (TDQ) of regional degree/betweenness centrality in the inter-regional network. Intra-regional networks also reflected a “chain-like” structure of inter-organizational collaborations, with the key organizations shifting to universities from both universities and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in intra-regional networks of Beijing and Shanghai. Our preliminary analysis suggests the possibility of complementary relationships between inter- and intra-regional networks for regional innovation rather than ones based on relevance.

科技创新之影响因素分析——以专利申请数量为例

对于一国科技创新能力的考量，大部分的研究者采用了发明、实用新型专利申请数量为评价指标，这一指标对科技创新能力的判断量化、可视化。本文就以发明、实用新型专利国际标准分类申请量为被解释变量，研究实验发展经费支出、研究发展人员数量以及图书出版情况这三个变量为解释变量，运用来源于国家统计局1995年至2014年的统计数据，利用最小二乘原理建立模型，分析了模型反映出的潜在问题，并给出了一些促进专利申请数量和提高科技创新能力可行性建议，例如应当继续加大科研经费的投入，逐步提高科研经费利用率，尽快调整高等教育下的人才培养制度，完善科研人员的绩效考核制度等。 Most researchers take the number of invention patent applications which accord with the international standard as a measurement to value the ability of science and technology innovation for a country, which visualizes the abstract definition into a measurable one. This paper, using the least squares principle, adopts the number of applications of invention and utility patents according to international standard classification (1995 to 2014 years), research and development spending, the quantity of research and development people at that time, and book publishing data to build an econometric analysis of relationship between the data. And the model is set up to find out the possible problems of the social reality, and to provide possible solutions to such problems. We should increase investment in scientific research funds, enhance the investment’s coefficient of utilization, adjust the personnel training system and change the performance appraisal system of scientific research personnel.

Intra- and inter-regional research collaboration across organizational boundaries: Evolving patterns in China

Both intra-regional and inter-regional research collaborations are significant determinants for regional innovation. However, systematic and empirical studies have seldom been reported integrating both of them. The present study advances a research agenda around a two-dimensional quadrant (TDQ) analytical framework to investigate regional research collaboration. It then applies such a framework to the Chinese case by examining collaborative invention patent applications between 1985 and 2008 with China's patent office. The results show that, first, the correlation between innovation capability and collaborative research was evolving, and the correlation between innovation capability and collaboration between enterprises (EE) is weaker than that between academic institutes and enterprises (AE); second, the intra-regional collaboration intensity was higher than the inter-regional one and AE collaboration dominated the regional collaboration; third, during the process of market-oriented reform, China's major innovative regions with different collaborative patterns were shifting from collaborative to independent research, from inter-regional collaboration to intra-regional collaboration, and from AE to EE collaboration, particularly in their inter-regional collaboration.

ИНФОРМАЦИОННЫЙ АНАЛИЗ ИННОВАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ УТИЛИЗАЦИОННОЙ ПЕРЕРАБОТКИ АВТОМОБИЛЬНЫХ АККУМУЛЯТОРНЫХ БАТАРЕЙ

The article considers the crucial task of determining a strategy for effective and ecologically friendly utilization of automobile accumulator batteries (AAB) being one of the most dangerous for the environment recoverable vehicle components. For this purpose, basing on the descriptions of invention patents, the authors carried out the general information analysis of known innovative AAB utilization technologies and considered the technological procedures of AAB recycling utilization represented in descriptions of national patents for inventions of methods and technical devices used for their implementation. Moreover, a patent search was performed and the numbers of patents and patent applications for inventions on this topic of leading Western countries were identified. They include both the methods and technical devices for AAB utilization separation into individual constituent components – plumbiferous (zinc-containing), electrolyte solutions, polymeric housing elements, and the direct utilization recycled processing of each noted AAB constituent element. There is a great variety of well-known technological procedures for utilization processing of plumbiferous battery scrap that are based on the implementation of various thermochemical transformations in order to get raw materials suitable for reuse. The procedures of utilization processing of AAB electrolyte solutions and polymeric housing elements are represented least of all. Obviously, it is caused by the demand and economic interest in obtaining a much more valuable commodity product from plumbiferous (zinc-containing) scrap. At the same time, the more stringent environmental legislation forces AAB developers and manufacturers to create more efficient technological procedures of utilization processing of all AAB components. The authors highlighted the feasibly prospective way of development of ecologically friendly disposal of polymeric solid waste, which is based on materials recycling resulting into production of corresponding semi finished polymeric crushed fragments which can be used as the effective sound-absorbing substances within different types of noise reducing device constructions.

A New Low-Cost Water Loop Suitable for BiTe Thermogenerators

This paper presents a new design for a thermogenerator suitable for working on low-temperature (up to 175°C) BiTe modules. Its improvement is related to the cooling system that is a low-cost modular device based on domestic hotwater radiators working in a natural-convection loop. Thermal and cost analyses were performed, showing that a competitive 1kW unit could be built (with a specific cost of 21,300 U$D/kW) by optimizing the whole cooling system to work on the new high-temperature (up to 320°C) BiTe modules recently launched, while present commercial thermogenerators cost about 60,000 U$D/kW. This novel design has not been claimed in an invention patent application since it is intended for use in the open market worldwide. Keywords: Thermoelectricity, thermogenerator, innovative prototype, low-cost water loop.

High-profile employees at universities and their intentions of commercializing research results

When university scientists consider their research results today, an entrepreneurial university wants them to explore more than the options for publication: invention disclosures and patent applications are increasingly becoming of interest as a step into the commercialization process. High-profile employees at universities face both the expectation and the opportunity to follow multiple careers: as scientists but also as drivers of the commercialization process and even as spin-off leaders. Organizational antecedents to such commercialization activities have largely been investigated to help universities design effective incentive systems that stimulate the inventive activity of their employees. However, it remains unclear to which set of incentives high-profile employees respond to. In applying Theory of Planned Behavior, the main contribution of our study is to demonstrate that attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control influence high-profile employee’s intention to disclose an invention as the first step in a commercialization process. More detailed results show which belief factors in turn influence attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control.

New Configurable Low-Cost Solar Roofs: Developing a New Paradigm for More Sustainable Houses

A new design of roof-integrated water solar collector is presented. It takes advantage of new synergies found between collector and roof. Its main concept is based on the use of water redistribution for changing the roof configuration. This system is completely suitable for inclined roofs, since it is based on waterproofed plastic chambers. This design provides a universal low-cost system for household heating and natural cooling that could be even cheaper than conventional roofs with similar (high) thermal qualities. This novel design has been claimed in an Argentinean invention patent application and also it has been internationally claimed. Keywords: Natural Cooling, solar heating, solar roof, passive solar, roof-integrated solar collector, Low-Cost Solar Roofs, Solar Technologies, Thin film solar collector, solar thermal panel, Solar Energy, solar heating system, domestic heating, polymer absorbers, greenhouse, heat storage