Gaetan is a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at ECARES, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM), part of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, in Belgium. He is working under the direction of Prof. Bruno van Pottelsberghe. He holds a BA and a MSc in Management Sciences from the SBS-EM. Gaétan was a visiting scholar at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France (Jan/Apr 2009) and went at the European Patent Office in Munich, Germany (2006-2007).
Abstract: Contrary to an accepted wisdom, this paper shows that cross-country variations in the number of patents per researcher do not only reflect differences in the propensity to patent but also signals differences in research productivity. We put forward and test an empirical model that formally accounts for the productivity and the propensity component of the R&Dâpatent relationship. The two components play an important role, as witnessed by the impact of several policies, including education, intellectual property and science and technology policies. Indicators based on domestic priority filings reflect research efforts and are primarily affected by varying propensities to patent. In contrast, international filings, especially triadic patents, rather capture variations in research productivity.
Abstract: Patent-based indicators at the country level are frequently used to assess countries' innovation performances or efforts. Yet they are often said to reflect the propensity to patent rather than actual research productivity. The authors of this article argue that patent-based indicators can rightfully be used to measure research productivity, as witnessed by the influence of several policy tools on the R&D-patent relationship. They also put forward a new counting methodology, less subject to âhomeâ bias.
Notes: This paper summarises an article authored by G. de Rassenfosse and B. van Pottelsberghe: âA policy insight into the R&D-patent relationshipâ.
Abstract: This paper analyses the role of patent-filing fees requested by the member states of the European Patent Convention (EPC). We provide first empirical evidence showing that the fee elasticity of the demand for priority applications is negative and significant. Given the strong variation in absolute fees and in fees per capita across countries, this result indicates a suboptimal treatment of inventors across European countries and suggests that fees should be considered as an integral part of an intellectual property policy, especially in the current context of worrying backlogs. In addition, we show that the transfer rate of domestic priority filings to the European Patent Office (EPO) increases with the duration of membership to the EPO and the GDP per capita of a country, suggesting that member states experience a learning curve within the EPC. The high heterogeneity in the transfer rates casts some doubts on the practice that consists in relying on filings at the EPO or at the United States Patent and Trademark Office to assess the innovative performance of countries.
