Title: On Patents, Innovation Surveys, R
1On Patents, Innovation Surveys, RD and other
devices to measure the rate and direction of
technological change
- Prof. Daniele Archibugi
- Italian National Research Council
- Birkbeck College, University of London
- Seminar 5 at the Science Policy Research Unit,
University of Sussex - July 10-15 2005
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3The hard task of measuring innovation
- Innovation is the most heterogeneous economic and
social phenomenon - There are no two identical innovations if so,
one would be an imitation - Scientific and technological value do not
correspond to economic value - The impact of an innovation is always uncertain
4Beyond RD and PatentsWhy?
- Rosenberg motivation - Lower forms of knowledge
- Pavitt and Smith motivation - non-RD component
of innovation - Lundvall motivation - Learning and knowledge
- Bell - Castells motivation - Towards a service
economy
5Development of indicators
6Institute for Studies on Scientific Research and
Documentation National Research Council of Italy
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14The patience and persistence of Joe Townsend,
SPRU Researcher, Mayor of Brighton
- Collection and classification of more than 4,000
radical innovations
15A taxonomy of innovations(Freeman-Perez)
- Incremental innovations
- Radical innovations
- Changes of technology systems
- Changes in techno-economic paradigm
(technological revolutions)
- measurable
- measurable
- measurable
- not measurable
16Manufacturing and Services in innovation and
employment
17According to how many criteria can an innovation
be classified?
- The technological field of the innovation
(antibiotics or semiconductor) - The product in which the innovation is more
likely to be used (drug or television) - The main product activity of the firm producing
it (Pharmaceuticals or Electronics) - The main product activity of the firms that will
more likely using it (again, Pharmaceuticals or
Electronics) - The human necessity that it is likely to satisfy
(health or entertainment)
18Objects and SubjectsTwo Alternative Approaches
toIndustrial Statistics
- OBJECTS
- Trade, products, patents
- Objective data
- SUBJECTS
- All industrial statistics (employment,
production, RD) - Subjective data
19Objects and Subjects Innovation Surveys
20When will the Object and the Subject approach be
the same?
- If firms will be able to be single-product?
- If firms will be allowed to produce innovations
in one technical field only? - What do we mean by industry?
21Winter From how many SIC Classes will it be
possible to buy a salad bowl?
-
- Major Group 24 Lumber And Wood Products, Except
Furniture - Major Group 30 Rubber And Miscellaneous Plastics
Products - Major Group 32 Stone, Clay, Glass, And Concrete
Products - Major Group 33 Primary Metal Industries
- Major Group 34 Fabricated Metal Products, Except
Machinery And Transportation Equipment - Major Group 39 Miscellaneous Manufacturing
Industries
22Inter-Industry Technology Flows Only?
- Scherer-Pavitt line based on the producer-user
differences, but... - Can be applied both among economic agents (firms,
ie subjects) or among economic artefact (products
or innovations, ie objects) - Havent we learnt that to introduce innovations
an absorptive capacity within the firm is needed?
23Strengths and Weaknesses of the Objects and
Subjects
24What are we learning from Community Innovation
Surveys?
- Number of innovating firms
- Reliable differences across industries
- Somehow reliable differences across firm size
- Not reliable indicators across countries still
survey-specific and not country-specific outcomes
25CIS Learnt Lessons Sources of Innovation
- Wide statistical population, useful insights, but
- No major news from more economical surveys (SPRU,
CNR, von Hippel, Yale, PACE) - Little variations over time
26Sources of Innovation where to go?
- Is it possible to get more information on the
changing nature of the sources to innovate? - Relevance of public research spill-over
literature and CIS results. Combination of
sources and not causality - Geographical proximity
27Innovation Costs Will it become the CIS key
indicator?
- It has proven difficult for the firm to answer
this question, more than with RD - We need to be flexible and to add up items since
this is a consequence of technical change - As with human capital, it might result an endless
fight
28 Innovation expenditure of Italian service firms
29Relevance of New Products
- Is the innovation new to the firm, industry,
country? - Highly subjective judgement the least informed
firm might believe that it has new products - More robust filters are needed
- Very relevant to associate it to the total share
of innovative value added
30Critical areas
- Meaning of innovation in manufacturing and
services - Organisational innovation
- Knowledge-based economy
- Indicators of ICT
- Time lag between the survey and the availability
of the data - Firm-level data protected too much by
confidentiality
31Developments from the CIS
- Deepening of measurement through CIS
- reconciling the subject and object approach
- Indicators for the new trajectories (rapidity)
- biotechnology
- information and communication technology
- Converge/fusion between manufacturing and
services