The Inventor Balance and the Functional Specialization in Global Inventive Activities

Lucio Picci and Luca Savorelli

No 2015-20, SIRE Discussion Papers from Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE)

Abstract: We study the functional specialization whereby some countries contribute relatively more inventors vs. organizations in the production of inventions at a global scale. We propose a conceptual framework to explain this type of functional specialization, which posits the presence of feedbacks between two distinct sub-systems, each one providing inventors and organizations. We quantify the phenomenon by means of a new metric, the 'inventor balance', which we compute using patent data. We show that the observed imbalances, which are often conspicuous, are determined by several factors: the innovativeness of a country relative to its level of economic development, relative factor endowments, the degree of technological specialization and, last, cultural traits.We argue that the 'inventor balance' is a useful indicator for policy makers, and its routine analysis could lead to better informed innovation policies.

Keywords: Patents; Inventor balance; Inventor criterion; Applicant criterion; Internationalization of R&D; Specialization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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