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Effects of patent policy on innovation outputs and commercialization: evidence from universities in China

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Abstract

As the important source of scientific and technological innovation in China, the improvement of productivity from the patent commercialization in universities and research institutes is of great significance to the promotion of China’s sustainable economic development. Despite the quantity of patent applications from universities has increased dramatically in recent years, the rate of patent commercialization is somewhat lower than we expect. The purpose of our study is to examine whether the incentive patent policy has effectively enhanced the patent outputs and commercialization of universities in China. We determine the specific patent policy based on the information collection and measure the specific effect of the patent policy by using the data of the 64 universities that were directly under the Ministry of Education from 2009 to 2015. As a result, we find that although the policy has increased a university’s patent output, it does not encourage the patent’s commercialization. This is because to a certain extent, the policy has a negative impact on the enthusiasm of the university patent commercialization. Therefore, we argue that patent policies focusing on the quantity in the short term can improve the innovation output but will have a negative impact on university’s sustainable development in the long run.

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Fig. 1

Source: the annual report of the patent statistics of the State Intellectual Property Office (1995–2016)

Fig. 2

Source: Chinese patent survey data report of the State Intellectual Property Office (2015)

Fig. 3

Source: Chinese patent survey data report of the State Intellectual Property Office (2015)

Fig. 4

Source: Chinese patent survey data report of the State Intellectual Property Office (2015)

Fig. 5

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Notes

  1. According to the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (Available here http://www.most.gov.cn/ztzl/jqzzcx/zzcxcxzzo/zzcxcxzz/zzcxgncxzz/200512/t20051230_27344.htm).

  2. The law was adopted in 1993 and was revised in 2007 (Available here http://www.yanta.gov.cn/xwzx/bmdt/gkjj/46514.htm).

  3. http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2009/indexch.htm.

  4. Patents are divided into three types (inventions, utility model, and design) in China. An invention patent refers to a new technical proposal for a product, a method, or an improvement for them. A utility model patent refers to a new technical scheme that is suitable for the shape, structure, or combination of the product. A design patent refers to a new design for the shape, pattern, or color of a product with a good sense of beauty and that is suitable for industrial application.

  5. www.bjipo.gov.cn/zcfg/dfxfg/201405/t20140527_32698.html.

  6. The legal database we use basically includes all the laws, administrative regulations, local laws and regulations promulgated by the legislature at all levels, from the central to the local level, and is available at http://www.pkulaw.cn/.

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Acknowledgments

The work was financially supported by National Social Science Fund of China (14BRK003), The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2016022), The Teaching Reform Research Project of Hubei Province (2016006) and The Teaching Reform Research Project of Wuhan University(2016013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Economics and Management School, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, Hubei, China

    Hong Gong & Shan Peng

  2. Research Center for China Industry-University-Research Institute Collaboration of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Hong Gong

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  1. Hong Gong
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  2. Shan Peng
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Correspondence to Hong Gong.

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Gong, H., Peng, S. Effects of patent policy on innovation outputs and commercialization: evidence from universities in China. Scientometrics 117, 687–703 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2893-5

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