Abstract
In recent years, there has been a surge in patenting by Belgian universities. It appears that this increase can be attributed to growth of biotechnology, where there is a greater propensity to patent, to a desire on the part of universities to enhance commercialization through technology transfer offices (TTOs), and to effective collaboration between universities and government-sponsored research centers. Our qualitative analysis reveals that patent statistics could be a misleading indicator of an individual university's “technological productivity,” since many inventions are developed at universities, yet applied by other institutions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Dernis, H., D. Guellec, and B. van Pottelsberghe, 2001, ‘Using Patent Counts for Cross-Country Comparison of Technology Output', STI Review 27, OECD, 129–146.
Griliches, Z., 1990, ‘Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey', Journal of Economic Literature 28, 1661–1707.
Henderson, R.M., A. Jaffe, and M. Trajtenberg, 1998, ‘Universities as a Source of Commercial Technology: A Detailed Analysis of University Patenting 1965-1988', Review of Economics and Statistics 80(1), 119–127.
Jaffe, A., 1986, ‘Technological Opportunity and Spillovers of R&D; Evidence from Firms’ Patents, Profits, and Market Value', American Economic Review 76(5), 984–1001.
Jaffe, A., 1989, ‘Real Effects of Academic Research', American Economic Review 79(5), 957–970.
Lanjouw, J. O., O. Pakes, and J. Putnam, 1998, ‘How to Count Patents and Value Intellectual Property: The Uses of Patent Renewal and Application Data', Journal of Industrial Economics 46(4), 405–432.
Mansfield, E., 1998, ‘Academic Research and Industrial Innovation: An Update of Empirical Findings, Research Policy', 26, 773–776.
Mowery, D.C., R.R. Nelson, B.N. Sampat, and A.A. Ziedonis, 2001, ‘The Growth of Patenting and Licensing by US Universities: An Assessment of the Effect of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980', Research Policy 30, 99–119.
Mowery, D.C. and A.A. Ziedonis, 2002, ‘Academic Patent Quality and Quantity before and after the Bayh-Dole Act in the United States', Research Policy, 31, 399–418.
Siegel, D., D. Waldman, and A.N. Link, 1999, ‘Assessing the Impact of Organizational Practices on the Productivity of University Technology Transfer Offices: An Exploratory Study’, NBER Working Paper #7256 and Research Policy, forthcoming.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Saragossi, S., van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, B. What Patent Data Reveal about Universities: The Case of Belgium. The Journal of Technology Transfer 28, 47–51 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021678719567
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021678719567