Parimal Patel

The technological competencies of the world's largest firms: Complex and path-dependent, but not much variety☆

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University-industry research collaborations in the UK: bibliometric trends

Despite increasing interest amongst policy makers and academics, there have been few attempts at gathering systematic data on the nature and extent of research collaborations between universities and industry. This paper uses joint scientific publications as an indicator of such collaborations in the UK over 20 years. It finds that, although there has been a rapid increase in the volume of university-industry collaborations since the 1980s, the biggest increases were before the major policy measures of the mid-1990s. An important factor would appear to be the growing need for firms, especially non-British firms, to collaborate with leading-edge academic research in promising areas of new technology. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

The determinants of patent citations: an empirical analysis of French and British patents in the US

The aim of the article is to investigate the determinants of patent citations which are reasonably good proxy for the technological value of an invention. The analysis is based on patents granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to French and British inventors from 1969 to 1998. Our aim is to explain the frequency of citations rather than why a patent may or may not be cited. This is achieved by examining some of the characteristics associated with highly cited patents. The models we estimate predict that a patent that is frequently cited, and therefore a technologically important patent, is a patent that it is quickly cited and more frequently cited by patent from other technological fields. When the patent is cited by patents from other technological fields this tends to indicate that the cited patent is broader.

Uneven Technological Development

Until the early 1970s, it was commonly assumed that the open trading system would allow the rapid international diffusion of technology, both as easily transmissible information (e.g. blueprints and operating instructions), and embodied in machinery. As a consequence, the catching up of Western Europe and Japan to the levels of technology and efficiency of the world’s leading country (the USA) would be relatively smooth. The same opportunities for technical change and growth were in principle open to the so—called developing countries, but many of these were constrained by traditions and cultures that did not value highly material acquisitiveness: Catholics and Confucians, for example, were disadvantaged in this respect, compared to Protestants.

The importance of the technological activities of the world's largest firms

Using a database built on company patenting in the U.S., the Authors examine the scale and distribution of the technological activities of the worlds largest manufacturing firms. The relative importance of large firms in the worlds technology is analysed to determine their share of the world total in 32 technical areas, their share of total technological activities and the internationalization of technical activities.

Multinational enterprises’ global competitiveness through emerging markets strategies and integration in global innovation networks

This research undertaken at the foreign subsidiary level explores how multinational enterprises (MNEs) from advanced nations harness global network-integrated R&D when it is extended to emerging markets. In both developed and developing country contexts, organizations are momentously devising strategies to integrate global innovation networks (GIN). Still a clear understanding of this rapidly emerging phenomenon is lacking. Case studies of 26 R&D Centres located in India and China belonging to 18 European MNEs in high-technology sectors enabled us to explore the underlying process. An integrated framework developed to position various R&D strategies that MNEs pursued in host facilities, enabled us to identify key dimensions. The core argument is that strategies are not static and can evolve in many ways. We are able to identify that this results from the inter-play between – the level of capabilities that have evolved in host R&D facilities, and the extent of integration in the GIN of parent MNE. Further, these strategies are not mutually exclusive and fit on a continuum. A trend towards greater integration in GIN and a deepening of local linkage is apparent, raising important issues regarding its implications. From a policy perspective, curtailing this process can impact the long-term competitiveness of industries and firms. Our research confirms that technology-based innovations now require combining knowledge inputs from multiple fields. Such new and complimentary knowledge/functions are increasingly being sourced from emerging markets. From an MNE perspective, past engagement in emerging markets and their experiences in interacting with host institutions are most critical, specifically linkages with the government and key stakeholders in R&D consortia. This is vital to mobilize host-market-related inputs and specialized technical knowledge/functions.

International benchmarking of biotech research centres

This paper presents the findings of a study that aimed to contribute to the production of new ST the focus was on the development of indicators that could be used to benchmark biotechnology research institutions. This paper focuses on the general methodology that was developed within the investigation undertaken, which could be applied in further benchmarking activities. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.