Research project grants 2017
The following six research projects were awarded funding under the EPO Academic Research Programme in 2017:
Innovation and technological content of imports
Innovation in one nation benefits others as it diffuses. While there is strong evidence linking the adoption of foreign innovations to international trade, there is as yet no evidence on how trade generates links to foreign innovations which promote new local innovations. To bridge this knowledge gap we used a proprietary dataset linking trade in products to technology classes, providing a state-of-the-art measure of the innovation content of trade. Furthermore, we examined how this knowledge content and thus the encouragement of new innovations are impacted by intellectual property rights driven trade policies such as the WTO's TRIPS agreement.
Aim
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Lead applicant
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University
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Thematic area
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Measure how international technology diffusion encourages local exports
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I. Bagayev
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University College Dublin
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Patents, trade and foreign direct investment
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Video
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Financing innovation in Europe
This research project establishes a link between financial constraints and corporate innovation in 15 European countries by analysing the impact of exogenous shocks on firms’ lending channels for their innovative activities. In order to infer causal relationships, the process of European financial integration in the early 2000s has been exploited as a quasi-natural experimental setup. The analysis used direct, quality-related measures of innovation based on patent information to assess the impact of financial constraints on innovative efficiency.
Aim
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Lead applicant
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University
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Thematic area
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Measure the impact of Financial Constraints on Corporate Innovation
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D. Heller
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Goethe University Frankfurt
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SMEs
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Video
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Innovation in climate change mitigation technologies and environmental regulation
The scientific evidence for human induced climate change and environmental degradation is unequivocal. Accelerating the development of climate change mitigation technologies (CCMTs) is a key challenge to temper the costs associated with climate change and air pollution. This project investigated the impact of environmental policies on innovation activities in general, and CCMTs in particular. The methodology used original data at the regional level on environmental measures implemented to decrease air pollution in the European Union and data on patents relating to CCMT (and non-CCMT). A quasi diff-in-diff setting and an instrumental variable approach have been used to identify the influence of a stricter environmental policy on different patterns of innovation activity.
Aim
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Lead applicant
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University
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Thematic area
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Measure the impact of environmental regulation on innovation in CCMT
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J. Lochard
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Université de Créteil
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Climate change mitigation technologies
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Video
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CAPPA – Career paths of patent attorneys
Patent attorneys have played an important role within the patent system for decades, but their role in sharing knowledge e.g. as they change jobs and interact with others has not previously been investigated in any detail. A comprehensive and current dataset about the activities and mobility of the patent attorneys has been missing. Based on preliminary work in the IP industry the project enabled the creation of a dataset of the career paths of all patent attorneys who have served as representatives before the EPO in the last ten years. This dataset, the EPAC, will be regularly updated and published as open data. It can be applied to identified career patterns of patent attorneys having a positive effect on the individual and firm success.
Aim
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Lead applicant
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University
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Thematic area
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Create a public dataset of individual European patent attorneys
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L. Maicher
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Friedrich Schiller University Jena
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Patent services and intermediaries
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Video
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Insights from product-patent correspondence
This project has used data science tools to build a database that tracks innovations into the marketplace. Specifically, new software has been developed to harvest data on products from the web, which could be directly traced to identifiable European patents. These data can be employed to advance our understanding of patent valuation and the patent prosecution process.
Aim
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Lead applicant
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University
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Thematic area
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Create a public dataset matching PATSTAT with innovative products
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G. de Rassenfosse
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Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
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Advanced use of PATSTAT
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Video
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Knowledge spillovers from product and process inventions and their impact on firm performance
This research project aims at the large-scale categorisation of ‘technological fields’ to distinguish between process inventions and product inventions. Text searching methods have been applied to validate the resulting classifications, which will be made publicly available. The patent records have been coded to enable the identification and analysis of technological life-cycles following the introduction of product and process inventions. A second, analytical part of the project characterises different forms of spillovers related to products and processes and analyses their impacts on: i) innovation performance; ii) research or productivity; and iii) entry/exit in technological fields.
Aim
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Lead applicant
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University
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Thematic area
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Measure the impact of information disclosure from product versus process inventions
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M. Wörter
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ETH Zurich
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Advanced use of PATSTAT
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Video
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Research project grants 2018
The following five research projects were awarded funding under the EPO Academic Research Programme in 2018:
Title
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Aim
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Lead applicant
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University
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Thematic area
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Approximating the standard essentiality of patents – a semantics-based analysis
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Develop and test methods based on semantic data analysis to identify patents related to technology standards
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Dietmar Harhoff
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Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, DE
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Advanced use of PATSTAT, patent searching, and analytics (e.g. classification, potential of IP linked open data)
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IP linked open data: building bridges (IP LodB)
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Capitalises on Linked Open Data to build bridges between patented information, scientific knowledge, scientists and organisations
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Dolores Modic
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NORD University, NO
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Advanced use of PATSTAT, patent searching, and analytics (e.g. classification, potential of IP linked open data)
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Mapping green trajectories in the universal network of patent citations
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Develop computational tools to identify evolutionary technological trajectories in patent citation networks
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Z. Önder Nomaler
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UNU MERIT, NL
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Patents and climate change mitigation technologies
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Traditional industries and the Fourth Industrial Revolution: new trends in the creation and protection of innovation in the global automotive industry
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Investigate how the emergence of 4IR-related technologies modifies the competitive positions of incumbents and new entrants in the automotive industry
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Alessandra Perri
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Ca’ Foscari University, IT
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Patents, Artificial Intelligence and the Fourth Industrial Revolution
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University research funding, patenting and technological impact
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Analyse the effects of public research funding to universities on subsequent patent activity
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Giuseppe Scellato
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Politecnico di Torino, IT
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Use of patents by SMEs and universities in Europe
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Research project grants 2019
The following four research projects were awarded funding under the EPO Academic Research Programme in 2019:
Title
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Aim
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Principal investigator
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University
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Thematic
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Patents as a source of finance to mitigate
financing constraints
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The project investigates
which patent characteristics matter for collateralization. Second, it aims to
determine whether patents actually do mitigate financing constraints by
especially investigating patents offered for loan collateral.
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Dirk
Czarnitzki
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KU Leuven, BE
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The
role of patents in technology transfer, commercialisation, and/or investment
decisions
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The role of the interplay between science and invention
networks in knowledge cohesion: evidence from European regions
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The
aim of this project is to analyse international collaborations in science on
one hand, and inventive activity on the other, to see how the landscape of
knowledge production and diffusion in Europe has changed in the last decade.
The project further aims at investigating to what extent collaborations in
science and collaborations in patents are related.
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Semih
Akcomak
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Middle East Technical University, TR
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Measuring
the impact of patents on innovation
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From patents to trademarks: towards a concordance
map
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The project aims at
developing and validating a novel concordance map linking patents to
trademarks through linking the underlying classifications. This concordance
will be shared in an open data setting to allow researchers to exploit it.
The project also plans to use the concordance to provide answers to research
questions relevant to the study of cleantech patents.
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Carolina
Castaldi
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Utrecht University, NL
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Advanced
use of PATSTAT, patent searching, and analytics (e.g. classification,
potential of IP linked open data)
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Understanding the business value of SMEs' patent
portfolio: an artificial intelligence-based approach
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The
aim of the project is to assess and forecast the commercial value of SMEs'
patents measuring the proximity between their portfolio and their business
models.
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Alberto
Di Minin
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Sant' Anna School of Advanced Studies, IT
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The
role of patents in technology transfer, commercialisation, and/or investment
decisions
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