Inventors on the move: Tracing inventors' mobility and its spatial distribution

Ernest Miguelez, Rosina Moreno () and Jordi Suriñach

Papers in Regional Science, 2010, vol. 89, issue 2, 251-274

Abstract: Abstract This paper aims to provide insights into the phenomenon of knowledge flows. We study one of the main mechanisms through which these flows occur, namely, the mobility of highly‐skilled individuals. We focus on the geographical mobility of inventors across European regions. Thus, patent data are used to trace the pattern of inventors' mobility across European regions, to track down focuses of attraction of talent throughout the continent, and to study their distribution across the space. To do so, we gather information from PCT patent documents and we first match the names which seemed to belong to the same inventor and then we create a new algorithm to decide whether each patent applied for under each name belongs to the same inventor. Resumen El objetivo de este artículo es aportar información sobre el fenómeno de flujos de conocimiento. Estudiamos uno de los mecanismos principales a través del cual suceden estos flujos, y en concreto la movilidad de individuos altamente cualificados. Nos concentramos en la movilidad geográfica de inventores dentro de las regiones europeas. Se utilizan por tanto datos de patentes para dar seguimiento al patrón de movilidad de inventores dentro de las regiones europeas, para localizar focos de atracción de talento en todo el continente y estudiar su distribución espacial. Para lograrlo recopilamos información de documentos de patentes del PCT, emparejando primero los nombres que parecían pertenecer al mismo inventor y a continuación creando un algoritmo nuevo para decidir si cada patente inscrita bajo cada nombre pertenece al mismo inventor.

Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1435-5957.2010.00280.x

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Working Paper: Inventors on the move: Tracing inventors' mobility and its spatial distribution (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:presci:v:89:y:2010:i:2:p:251-274

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