Big science and innovation: gestation lag from procurement to patents for CERN suppliers

Andrea Bastianin, Paolo Castelnovo, Massimo Florio and Anna Giunta
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Anna Giunta: Roma Tre University and Rossi-Doria Centre

The Journal of Technology Transfer, 2022, vol. 47, issue 2, No 8, 555 pages

Abstract: Abstract CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the most important laboratory for particle physics in the world. It requires cutting edge technologies to deliver scientific discoveries. This paper investigates the time span needed for technology suppliers of CERN to absorb the knowledge acquired during the procurement relation and develop it into a patent. We estimate count data models relying on a sample of CERN suppliers for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator. Firms in our sample received their first LHC-related order over a long-time span (1995–2008). This fact is exploited to estimate the time lag that separates the beginning of the procurement relationship and the filing date of patents. Becoming a supplier of CERN is associated with a statistically significant increase in the number of patent applications by firms. Moreover, such an effect requires a relatively long gestation lag in the range of five to eight years.

Keywords: Big science; CERN; Innovation; Public procurement; Patents; Gestation lag; C21; C23; H57; L39; O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10961-021-09854-5

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