Intellectual Property Governance and Knowledge Creation in UK Universities

Andersen Birgitte () and Federica Rossi

Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio Carlo Alberto. WP series from University of Turin

Abstract: The public discourse advocating increased patenting of academic discoveries, which has led to the approval of legislative measures (such as the Bayh Dole Act, which is now adopted world-wide in various forms) is based on a set of theoretical arguments, mainly related to knowledge transfer and financial reward. Using an original survey of 46 universities (about 27%) in the United Kingdom, we investigate whether some of these arguments are supported by evidence. We focus on the extent to which patents, as opposed to other forms of intellectual property (IP) protection mechanisms, enhance knowledge circulation, and especially contribute to universities’ own knowledge creation processes. We also investigate whether universities consider the markets for ideas and creative expressions to function efficiently. We find that universities use all forms of IP intensively in order to transfer their knowledge to industry or government. However, they mainly rely on non-proprietary IP (open source and no-patent strategies) when aiming to enhance their own knowledge creation processes. Also, universities do not find that markets for patents or copyrights function more smoothly than non-proprietary IP marketplaces. The results challenge the orthodox theories on the rationales for patents and other proprietary intellectual property rights (IPRs). Thus, we question the assumptions and arguments underpinning the implementation of patents on academic research outcomes via political reforms since the 1980s

Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2010-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-edu, nep-ino, nep-ipr, nep-pr~ and nep-knm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/a ... 16_wp_momigliano.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Intellectual property governance and knowledge creation in UK universities (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uto:labeco:201016

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio Carlo Alberto. WP series from University of Turin Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Laura Ballestra () and Cinzia Carlevaris ().