Research project S2/005/10 (Research action S2)
The research project contains two aspects:
Compilation of new output indicators showing innovativeness and how they relate to input and network indicators.
The objective of this project section is descriptive. The emphasis will be placed on the compilation of detailed indicators, whereby researchers will use available information about patents as their primary basis, plus available information about NME registration data for pharmaceutical products and trademarks. Our research group is in a particularly favourable position to perform this task since it has accumulated a wealth of experience in this field while writing retrieval and parsing programs and internet robots for data requests. By virtue of this, our research group has already been able to build an extensive database on USPTO and EPO patents, data on trademarks and other data on international R&D collaboration within the framework of EU framework programmes.
About the role of multinational corporations in the patenting behaviour of Belgian companies and with regard to trademarks and NME registrations
The objective of this section is analytical. Above all, the primary aim will be to investigate hitherto uncharted areas, although not without preparation since the amount of literature on the internationalisation of industrial R&D is becoming ever more wide-ranging.
One of the leading observations is that multinationals are nowadays engaged in the production of external networks and relations with local entities that provide them with access to external knowledge sources and application possibilities. More specifically, our intention is to test the theory that the existing presence of knowledge spillovers from subsidiaries to parent companies can occur through the “repatriation” of research results. An initial indication as regards Belgium is the discernable difference between the number of patents granted to Belgian companies and the number of patents within which the findings of Belgian researchers are patented.
The specific tasks of the integrated PROJECT are as follows:
A. Databank building and construction of the new S&T indicators with reference to:
A.1 Patents and patent citations:
The sources here are EPO and USPTO. Patent citations should be used in order to weigh the patents. A first important indicator for testing the validity of the "repatriation" theory will be provided by the ratio of the (weighed) number of patents lodged by Belgian companies to the (weighed) number of patents in which Belgian researchers are involved.
A.2 Trademarks:
The sources here are USPTO and OHIM (Alicante). In this connection, ways will need to be sought in order to link registered trademarks with specific patents, so as subsequently to verify which sections of these patents are being obtained by firms, by foreign multinationals in Belgium, and by foreign firms with the help of Belgian researchers.
A.3 NME registrations:
The sources here are the FDA in the United States and EMEA (European Medicines Evaluation Agency). The question is to be presented in the same way as when referring to patents.
A.4 International R&D collaboration:
The sources here are the CORDIS databank of the European framework projects, the EUREKA databank and the MERIT-CATI databank of technology alliances.
B. Cleaning, verification and integration of the various databanks.
C. Testing the "repatriation" theory by estimating panel regression models.
