Institutional Changes and the Commercialization of Academic Knowledge: A Study of Italian Universities' Patenting Activities between 1965 and 2002

Abstract

The impact of internal intellectual propertyrights (IPR) regulations on Italian universities’ patenting activities isassessed. Internal IPR regulations respond to the increased levels of autonomythatuniversities were granted in the 1990s. The empirical analysisconsists of a complete set of 637 patent applications filed at the ItalianPatent and Trademark Office (UIBM), the European patent Office (EPO), the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), or data submitted to a Patent CooperationTreaty (PCT) between1965 and 2002. Using multivariate analysis, the study yielded the following findings: (1)the number of Italian university patent applications rose in the previous 10years; (2) patenting activities almost tripled in universities with an internalIPR regulation; and (3) whenever a university institutes its own patentregulations, it increases (by about 9%) the likelihood that other universitieswithout an internal patent regulation will adopt one. Collaborativeresearch with companies or other public research organizations that results inpatent applications also increases the likelihood of the implementation of anintellectual property rights policy. (CBS)

Keywords: Colleges & universities, Intellectual property, Organizational change, Patents, Regulations, Technology transfer, Commercialization, Academic research, University-firm relations, Technology transfer offices