The Impact of University Research on Corporate Patenting

Christian Helmers and Mark Rogers

SERC Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: This paper analyses the association between the number of patenting manufacturing firms and the quantity and quality of relevant university research across UK postcode areas. We show that different measures of research `power' and `excellence' positively affect the patenting of small firms within the same postcode area. Patenting by large firms, in contrast, is unaffected by research undertaken in nearby universities. This confirms the commonly held view that location matters more for small firms than large firms. We also investigate specific channels of technology transfer, finding that university-industry knowledge transfer occurs through both formal and informal channels. From a methodological point of view, we contribute to the existing literature by accounting for potential simultaneity between university research and patenting of local firms by adopting an instrumental variable approach. Moreover, we also allow for the effects of the presence of universities in neighbouring postcode areas to influence firms' patenting activity by incorporating spatial neighborhood effects.

Keywords: Patents; universities; knowledge transfer; spillover; UK (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L22 L26 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-edu, nep-eur, nep-ino, nep-ipr, nep-pr~ and nep-ure
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The impact of university research on corporate patenting (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:sercdp:0054

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