Fabrizio Cesaroni

The Chemical Sector al System. Firms, markets, institutions and the processes of knowledge creation and diffusion

According to the Sectoral Systems of Innovation and Production approach, the analysis of a specific sector has to describe its knowledge and technological base, existing complementarities among knowledge, technologies and products, the heterogeneity of agents, their learning processes and competencies, the role of non-firm organisations, and the presence of (co)evolutionary processes. This study applies this theoretical framework to the chemical industry, and examines evolution and co-evolution processes that have characterised this industry over its 200 years history. It emerges a strong dichotomy in industry dynamics. On the one hand, big discontinuities can be observed in knowledge and technological dimensions, which implied a major change in industry structure and a growing division of labour at the industry level. On the other hand, a big continuity can be observed as well, mainly in companies life. Indeed, one important feature of the chemical industry is that between small and large companies, markets, research institutions and other organisations there has been a continuous process of co-evolution, with firms playing the central role within the chemical system.

Universities and intellectual property rights in Southern European countries

Abstract This paper analyses and discusses the patenting activity of Public Research Organizations (PROs) in Southern European countries. Despite the importance of the topic, studies about the European experience are rare. By using an original database of “American” (USPTO) and “European” (EPO) patents held by PROs in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece, we observe that the number of university patents in these countries has not increased dramatically during the last years, despite a growing interest at both European and national level during the same period. However, differences do exist among countries in terms of number of granted patents and regulative frameworks. With regard to PROs patenting strategies, we argue that PROs should be progressively able to adopt a “balanced” approach, in order to achieve co-existence between the traditional mechanisms of the so-called “open research system” and the more recent concerns about intellectual property protection, technology transfer and regional development.

Visualizing the structure and bridges of the intellectual property management and strategy literature: a document co-citation analysis

This article uses document co-citation analysis to objectively explore the underlying structure of the intellectual property research domain, taken from a managerial and strategic standpoint. The goal of this study is identifying its main research areas, understanding its current state of development and suggesting potential future directions, by analyzing the co-citations from 181 papers published between 1992 and 2011 in the most influential academic journals. Five main clusters have been identified, mapped, and labeled as follows: Economics of patent system, technological and institutional capabilities, university patenting, intellectual property exploitation, and division of labor. Their most active areas on this topic, and the most influential and co-cited papers have been identified and described. Also, intra- and inter-cluster knowledge base diversity has been assessed by using indicators stemming from the domains of information theory and biology. A t test has been performed to assess the significance of the inter-cluster diversity. The knowledge bases of these five clusters are significantly diverse, this meaning that they are five co-existing paradigms.

Intellectual Property Rights and Market Dynamics

Two opposite models are currently operating in the modern economy, the strong intellectual property rights (IPR) model, and the open source/open science model. They have traditionally been applied to alternative institutional contexts. The strong IPR model has been associated to the business environment, while the open science model has been associated to the academic or research system. More recently, a strengthening of the IPR system has occurred in the public research system, and open science models have been adopted in private sectors like the open source software. This paper discusses these different models and their implications on the innovative activity of firms and economies, and the market dynamics. One of the main benefits deriving from a strong IPR system is that it encourages the entry of new technology-based firms and the commercialisation of technologies in markets for technologies. At the same time, an increased patent protection is also associated to potential costs, such as those arising from a excessive fragmentation of property rights, an abuse of patent protection for strategic reasons (sleeping and blocking patents), and an increase in litigation costs.

The Market for Knowledge in the Chemical Sector

Few industries epitomize the market for knowledge as the chemical industry. Large and small companies, universities, and research laboratories are heterogeneous sources of scientific and technological knowledge. Market and non-market interactions are the means through which knowledge diffuses among them, and enhance the potential complementarities.

Capturing the real value of patent analysis for R&D strategies

Patent information can be used for strategic planning purposes. Conventional patent analysis has commonly focused on factual information and, in particular, on information extraction, visualisation and interpretation. Less scholarly attention has been devoted to the strategic role of an integrated system of patent intelligence in supporting decision-making in R&D investments. Our paper addresses this gap and explores how patent analysis may benefit those firms that intend capturing the beneficial effects of Open Innovation. We also critically discuss the intrinsic limits of both patent information and patent analysis, which should be taken into account by systems of patent intelligence.

Small- and medium-scale Italian winemaking companies facing the open innovation challenge

This article examines the impact of open innovation (OI) practices on the innovation activity of low-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Different external knowledge sources are considered, and the ability of SMEs to acquire and integrate external knowledge into their organizational boundaries for innovation purposes is assessed. The research draws on a sample of 191 Italian winemakers. The results show that SMEs with higher propensity to access and use external knowledge sources show a greater ability to innovate and that their absorptive capacity impacts the use of external sources. Several implications for theory and practice are drawn, underlining a number of suggestions for future research.

Technology Intelligence: New Challenges from Patent Information

Patent information can be used for strategic planning purposes. Conventional patent analysis has commonly focused on factual information and, in particular, on information extraction, visualization and assessment techniques. Less scholarly attention has been devoted to the strategic role of an integrated system of patent intelligence in supporting firm’s decision-making. Since patents can be strategically used by firms to prevent competitors to strengthen their competitive advantage, patent information may be distort or insufficient. We accommodate the “dark side” of firms patenting by underlining pros and cons of patent information. We argue that technology intelligence should take into account such intrinsic limits of patent information.

Development and Diffusion of Environmental Technologies

During the last decades, the chemical industry has constantly tried to reduce the environmental impact of its production processes, and to reduce the overall level of pollution, through the adoption of environmentally safe technologies and products. In this respect, the main objective of this study is to assess the role played by the European chemical industry in the development and diffusion of environmental technologies, compared with the US and Japan. Specifically, the study firstly provides a general classification of environmental technologies, which distinguishes between ex-ante and ex-post interventions. Then, on the bases of patent statistics and several case studies, it compares the technological competences of European, US and Japanese chemical companies, and explores the incentives that chemical firms have in developing and adopting clean technologies. The role of specific environmental regulation and of the public opinion (customer demand) is discussed.

Exploiting Internet-of-Things: Platforms and Business Models

Internet-of-Things (IoT) is expected to play a key role in the near future due to the possibility it shows to spur processes of economic growth by fostering differentiated business applications. To exploit several possibilities, firms need to define and adopt appropriate business models. By analyzing the case of FIWARE, we discuss which business models can be adopted by different actors involved in the development and usage of a cloud-based platform enabling IoT solutions. We show that such platform represents a general purpose technology, which allows innovative forms of division of labor among technology suppliers and technology users, with positive revenues for involved actors.