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1 – 10 of 14Yu-Wei Chang, Hsiao-Wen Yang and Mu-Hsuan Huang
The purpose of this study is to analyse and explore the characteristics of patent–paper pairs (PPPs) in the field of fuel cells.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyse and explore the characteristics of patent–paper pairs (PPPs) in the field of fuel cells.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used bibliometric analysis to analyse the bibliometric records of PPPs identified from 20,758 papers and 8,112 utility patents between 1991 and 2010.
Findings
The findings show that the percentages of papers and patents constituting PPPs were low, but an increasing trend was identified in the absolute number of PPPs. Researchers affiliated with research institutions were the primary contributors to PPPs. Countries with the most papers and patents had the most PPPs, exploiting the advantage of dual knowledge creation. Similar growth trends were observed in the numbers of patents approved and papers published. Patents in PPPs were typically produced earlier than the papers in PPPs. On average, patents were applied for approximately four years before papers were published, and patents were approved only approximately four months before papers were published.
Research limitations/implications
While the study was limited to the PPPs in the field of fuel cells, PPPs analysis can be applied to numerous fields.
Originality/value
PPPs indicate the coactivity of researchers involved in publishing and patenting. Although this coactivity has been studied, few studies have investigated PPPs. This study helps us better understand the characteristics of papers and patents constituting PPPs, changes in the annual numbers of papers and patents constituting PPPs, delays between papers and patents, as well as individuals, institutions and countries producing numerous PPPs.
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Ashish Arora, Andrea Fosfuri and Alfonso Gambardella
Firms have typically tried to profit from their technical innovations by selling them indirectly, embedded in goods and services. Markets for technology, in which innovations are…
Abstract
Firms have typically tried to profit from their technical innovations by selling them indirectly, embedded in goods and services. Markets for technology, in which innovations are sold or licensed, have been much rarer. Yet, trade in technology has grown systematically over the past 20 years, as reflected in the growth of arrangements such as licensing agreements, R&D joint ventures, and contract R&D. Recent estimates indicate that royalties received by American corporations for industrial processes may amount to about a quarter of total U.S. R&D. A number of supporting institutions that facilitate effective dissemination of information, standardization, and contracting are vital to the rise and functioning of markets for technology. Intellectual property rights, and in particular patents, are one such institution. The main objectives of this survey are to review critically the literature on the relationship between trade in technology and patent protection, and to assess the contribution of stricter and better-defined patent protection to the emergence of technology markets. We start our survey by providing a tentative taxonomy of markets for technology and some recent evidence on their extent and evolution. We then explore several reasons why firms would be willing to act as suppliers in the market for technology. The core of the survey revolves around the idea that patents facilitate the development of markets for technology in several ways: They enhance the ability of the licensor to extract rents from its innovation; they reduce costs in technology trade by forcing an increased codification of knowledge; they reduce information asymmetries, opportunistic behaviors, and transaction costs. However, the literature also points to some potential costs of stronger patents, including litigation costs and the problem of “anti-commons.” Finally, we explore the implications of patents and markets for technology for entry, competition and industry dynamics.
Ani Gerbin and Mateja Drnovsek
Knowledge sharing in research communities has been considered indispensable to progress in science. The aim of this paper is to analyze the mechanisms restricting knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
Knowledge sharing in research communities has been considered indispensable to progress in science. The aim of this paper is to analyze the mechanisms restricting knowledge sharing in science. It considers three categories of academia–industry knowledge transfer and a range of individual and contextual variables as possible predictors of knowledge-sharing restrictions.
Design/methodology/approach
A unique empirical data sample was collected based on a survey among 212 life science researchers affiliated with universities and other non-profit research institutions. A rich descriptive analysis was followed by binominal regression analysis, including relevant checks for the robustness of the results.
Findings
Researchers in academia who actively collaborate with industry are more likely to omit relevant content from publications in co-authorship with other academic researchers; delay their co-authored publications, exclude relevant content during public presentations; and deny requests for access to their unpublished and published knowledge.
Practical implications
This study informs policymakers that different types of knowledge-sharing restrictions are predicted by different individual and contextual factors, which suggests that policies concerning academia–industry knowledge and technology transfer should be tailored to contextual specificities.
Originality/value
This study contributes new predictors of knowledge-sharing restrictions to the literature on academia–industry interactions, including outcome expectations, trust and sharing climate. This study augments the knowledge management literature by separately considering the roles of various academic knowledge-transfer activities in instigating different types of knowledge-sharing restrictions in scientific research.
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Svein Ole Borgen and Bernt Aarset
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of biotechnological inventions and innovations on the organization of the burgeoning Atlantic salmon farming industry.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of biotechnological inventions and innovations on the organization of the burgeoning Atlantic salmon farming industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors study how novel biotechnological inventions are utilized within Atlantic salmon aquaculture. The authors compare the findings with the historical development path of invention and innovation in the plant sector, and explore parallels and dissimilarities between the plant breeding sector and Atlantic salmon aquaculture.
Findings
The innovation capacity within Atlantic salmon aquaculture is distinct from the plant sector, but nonetheless likely to become equifinal. Similar to plants, the female fecundity of salmon is high. Hybridization, which is an effective mechanism for protection of investments in high fecundity organisms, is less effective in salmon farming because the genetic variability is higher in salmon. Hybridization provides plant breeders with significant power over grow-out farmers. The development path in Atlantic salmon sector is distinctively dissimilar from plants, but salmon farmers nonetheless appear to move toward the structural configurations that are parallel to the plant sector. The significance of new breeding technologies in Atlantic salmon farming ascends, and will play an increasingly important role in the further development of this industry.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to the prevailing knowledge of how inventions and innovations influence the future development of the Atlantic salmon industry.
Originality/value
Biotechnological inventions are evolving within aquaculture. So far, the implications of novel biotechnological possibilities for the Atlantic salmon sector have been underanalyzed. The paper explores these implications from the perspective of political economy.
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In this article, the ideas and methods behind the “patent-paper citation” are scrutinised by following the intellectual and technical development of approaches and ideas in early…
Abstract
Purpose
In this article, the ideas and methods behind the “patent-paper citation” are scrutinised by following the intellectual and technical development of approaches and ideas in early work on patentometrics. The aim is to study how references from patents to papers came to play a crucial role in establishing a link between science and technology.
Design/methodology/approach
The study comprises a conceptual history of the “patent paper citation” and its emergence as an important indicator of science and technology interaction. By tracing key references in the field, it analyses the overarching frameworks and ideas, the conceptual “hinterland”, in which the approach of studying patent references emerged.
Findings
The analysis explains how interest in patents – not only as legal and economic artefacts but also as scientific documents – became evident in the 1980s. The focus on patent citations was sparked by a need for relevant and objective indicators and by the greater availability of databases and methods. Yet, the development of patentometrics also relied on earlier research, and established theories, on the relation between science and technology.
Originality/value
This is the first attempt at situating patentometrics in a larger societal and scientific context. The paper offers a reflexive and nuanced analysis of the “patent-paper citation” as a theoretical and historical construct, and it calls for a broader and contextualised understanding of patent references, including their social, legal and rhetorical function.
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Alessio Ishizaka, David Pickernell, Shuangfa Huang and Julienne Marie Senyard
The purpose of this study is to examine the portfolio of knowledge transfer (KT) activities in 162 UK higher education institutions. In doing so, this study creates an index and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the portfolio of knowledge transfer (KT) activities in 162 UK higher education institutions. In doing so, this study creates an index and ranking, but more importantly, it identifies specific groupings or strategic profiles of universities defined by different combinations and strengths of the individual KT activities from which the overall rankings are derived. Previous research, concentrating on entrepreneurial universities, shows that individual knowledge transfer (KT) activities vary substantially among UK universities. The broad portfolio of universities' KT activities, however, remains underexplored, creating gaps in terms of the relative strength, range, focus and combination of these activities, and the degree to which there are distinct university strategic KT profiles. By examining KT activities and grouping universities into KT “types”, this research allows universities and policymakers to better develop and measure clearer KT-strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study applied the Preference Ranking Organization Method for the Enrichment of Evaluations (PROMETHEE) to rank universities based on their portfolio of KT activities. It utilised data from the 2015–2016 Higher Education Business and Community Interaction Survey dataset.
Findings
Findings show that universities differ substantially in their portfolios of KT activities. By using PROMETHEE, a new ranking of universities is generated, based on their KT portfolio. This paper also identifies four distinct types or groups of universities based on the diversity and intensity of their KT activities: Ambidextrous, broad, focused and indifferent.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature, and more specifically entrepreneurial activities of universities through new knowledge generated concerning university KT activity. The research extends the existing literature on university archetypes (including those concerned with the Entrepreneurial University) and rankings using a new technique that allows for more detailed analysis of the range of university KT activities. By applying the PROMETHEE approach, results illustrate a more nuanced definition of university KT activities than before, by simultaneously evaluating their overall strength, range, focus and combination, allowing us to identify the universities' strategic profiles based on their KT portfolios. Implications of the findings for key stakeholders include a potential need for government higher education policymakers to take into account the different mixes of university archetypes in a region when considering how best to support higher education and its role in direct and indirect entrepreneurship promotion through regional policy goals.
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What is technology transfer and why is it important for strategy? Many firms focus on innovation as a central component of their strategy to achieve a competitive advantage over…
Abstract
What is technology transfer and why is it important for strategy? Many firms focus on innovation as a central component of their strategy to achieve a competitive advantage over their rivals. To this end, companies exploit a variety of sources of innovation, both within and outside the boundaries of the firm.1 In-house research and development leading to product or process innovations offer certain advantages relative to outsourcing, due in particular to the transaction costs associated with contracting for knowledge. At the same time, in-house innovation is costly and fraught with risk.
Jing Yang, Jing Zhang and Deming Zeng
The environment in high-tech industries is highly dynamic, and after COVID-19, it has become even more unpredictable. Hence, it has become critical for firms to develop strategies…
Abstract
Purpose
The environment in high-tech industries is highly dynamic, and after COVID-19, it has become even more unpredictable. Hence, it has become critical for firms to develop strategies to cope with a highly dynamic environment. This paper aims to analyze how the impact of the scientific collaboration networks with URIs (universities and research institutes) on firm innovation performance is contingent on technological and market dynamics.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 174 Chinese firms in the new-energy vehicle industry during 2004–2015, the authors applied a random-effects negative binomial modeling approach to model these relationships.
Findings
A broad and strong scientific collaboration network promotes firm innovation network effects are contingent on technological and market dynamics. While technological dynamics strengthen the effect market dynamics weaken it due to the different purposes of collaboration for firms and URIs.
Practical implications
Firms should adjust the structure of scientific collaboration networks with URIs when facing different environments. The government should encourage firms to jointly research with diverse URIs and play an active role in stabilizing market environments.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the academic debate on university-industry scientific collaborations. Applying the temporary competitive advantage (TCA) framework, we provide nuances to the literature that studies the factors that condition the effects of networks. This study also adds to the research on firm scientific collaboration networks by measuring networks based on the coauthorship between firms and URIs.
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Li Si, Yueting Li, Xiaozhe Zhuang, Wenming Xing, Xiaoqin Hua, Xin Li and Juanjuan Xin
The purpose of this paper is to conduct performance evaluation of eight main scientific data sharing platforms in China and find existing problems, thus providing reference for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conduct performance evaluation of eight main scientific data sharing platforms in China and find existing problems, thus providing reference for maximizing the value of scientific data and enhancing scientific research efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the authors built an evaluation indicator system for the performance of scientific data sharing platforms. Next, the analytic hierarchy process was employed to set indicator weights. Then, the authors use experts grading method to give scored for each indicator and calculated the scoring results of the scientific data sharing platform performance evaluation. Finally, an analysis of the results was conducted.
Findings
The performance evaluation of eight platforms is arranged by descending order by the value of F: the Data Sharing Infrastructure of Earth System Science (76.962), the Basic Science Data Sharing Center (76.595), the National Scientific Data Sharing Platform for Population and Health (71.577), the China Earthquake Data Center (66.296), the China Meteorological Data Sharing Service System (65.159), the National Agricultural Scientific Data Sharing Center (55.068), the Chinese Forestry Science Data Center (56.894) and the National Scientific Data Sharing & Service Network on Material Environmental Corrosion (Aging) (52.528). And some existing shortcomings such as the relevant policies and regulation, standards of data description and organization, data availability and the services should be improved.
Originality/value
This paper is mainly discussing about the performance evaluation system covering operation management, data resource, platform function, service efficiency and influence of eight scientific data sharing centers and made comparative analysis. It reflected the reality development of scientific data sharing in China.
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“BEFORE the leaves of Autumn fall” we were assured by Mr. Churchill that there might be heavy fighting. They have not fallen yet, although with September, beautiful as it often…
Abstract
“BEFORE the leaves of Autumn fall” we were assured by Mr. Churchill that there might be heavy fighting. They have not fallen yet, although with September, beautiful as it often is, we know the Summer is over and our minds must be occupied most immediately with the war. Libraries may seem to some, even librarians, secondary in this maelstrom but, even if they are, that secondariness is really so important that at this month everyone looks to his own work to see in what ways it may be geared up more fully for its own special contribution. Immediate planning concerns such matters as winter service hours, staffing, the growing wear and tear on stocks, the inadequacy of new book supply, the growing shabbiness of our buildings and our continuing inability to carry on the extension work which was so prominent a feature of many libraries. Frankly, in most towns we are giving a book service, not doing the library work, personal and bibliographical, which every librarian desires to give. To do what is within our limits to the best advantage is, then, the immediate problem.