Intermediation in Innovation

Heidrun Hoppe-Wewetzer and Emre Ozdenoren

No FS IV 02-11, CIG Working Papers from Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG)

Abstract: The paper offers a new theoretical framework to examine the role of intermediaries between creators and potential users of new inventions. Using a model of university-industry technology transfer, we demonstrate that technology transfer offices can provide an opportunity to economize on a critical component of efficient innovation investments: the expertise to locate new, external inventions and to overcome the problem of sorting ‘profitable’ from ‘unprofitable’ ones. The findings may help explain the surge in university patenting and licensing since the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980. Furthermore, the study identifies several limitations to the potential efficiency of intermediation in innovation. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG - In diesem Papier stellen wir ein neues theoretisches Modell zur Analyse der Rolle von Intermediären zwischen Erfindern und potentiellen Nutzern von Erfindungen vor. Für den Transfer von Erfindungen aus Universitäten in den Industriebereich zeigen wir, daß Technologietransfer-Stellen den Marktteilnehmern die Möglichkeit bieten, sich die Kosten für den Aufbau der Expertise, neue externe Erfindungen zu lokalisieren und evaluieren, zu teilen. Die Ergebnisse unserer Studie können dazu beitragen, die signifikante Zunahme der Universitätspatente und - lizensen seit dem Bayh-Dole-Act von 1980 in den USA zu erklären. Darüber hinaus diskutieren wir Wohlfahrtswirkungen der Aktivität von Innovations-Intermediären.

Keywords: Intermediation; Market Microstructure; Matching Uncertainty; Innovation; Patent Licensing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D4 D8 L12 L13 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2002-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent and nep-ino
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published in the Journal of Industrial Organization , Vol. 23(5-6), June 2005, pp. 483-503.

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Working Paper: Intermediation in Innovation (2005)
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