Inventions, commercialization strategies, and knowledge spillovers in SMEs

Pontus Braunerhjelm and Roger Svensson ()
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Roger Svensson: The Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)

Small Business Economics, 2024, vol. 63, issue 1, No 10, 275-297

Abstract: Abstract Despite the comprehensive previous research on different aspects of inventions and externalities spanning both the micro- and macrolevels, no prior studies have, to our knowledge, examined the relationship between the commercialization strategies of inventions/patents and social knowledge spillovers. To bridge this gap in the literature, we examine how such spillovers, measured as forward citations, covary with four commercialization modes: (1) setting up a new firm, (2) commercialization within an existing firm where the inventor either is employed or (3) has an ownership stake, and (4) licensing/selling patents to other firms. Alternatively, an inventor may refrain from commercialization. Utilizing unique survey data on patents owned by small- and medium-sized enterprises and individuals, we provide evidence that commercialization through licensing/selling is the most efficient way of generating knowledge diffusion. We also find some support for new ventures being an important source of knowledge spillovers.

Keywords: Patents; Commercialization mode; Knowledge spillovers; Start-ups; Licensing; SMEs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M13 O32 O33 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s11187-023-00812-z

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