Artificial intelligence and patents in Brazil: Overview on patentability and comparative study on patent filings

Innovations related to artificial intelligence (AI) can impact many technological fields and gather attention of several sectors from industry. Brazil is a developing country with a large territory and consumer market, attracting investment from foreign companies, including AI technologies. In the present work, we carry out a review of the Brazilian IP Law, Guidelines and Resolutions regarding patentability of AI inventions in Brazil, and also perform comparative analyses with the guidelines from the EPO and USPTO. Then, patent searches are carried out to analyze filing indicators of patent applications for AI inventions, wherein it is possible to verify that most of the filing applicants in Brazil are foreign companies, mainly from the US. Brazilian entities, which rank second overall in filing for patent applications in Brazil, do not even appear among the main applicants for AI inventions. We conclude that Brazil is not a competitive country in the production of patents related to AI, and it is important for Brazil to establish some degree of legal certainty regarding patent protection for AI inventions and disseminate knowledge about protecting such inventions by patents, so that inventors opt to disclose their AI inventions instead of keeping them as a trade secret. Therefore, more and more sectors of society might benefit from innovations arising from AI.     

Coopetition and innovation in high-tech firms: What we can learn from analysis of the semiconductor industry's patents

This study investigates coopetition among the 16 semiconductor firms that figured among the top 10 by revenue from 2009 to 2019 using patent data obtained from the Derwent World Patents Index™ (DWPI), considering records available for the selected firms published and indexed up to July 26, 2020. Only 1791 (0.17%) records from a total of more than 1.1 million have two or more of these competing firms as assignees (i.e., they are records for joint patents involving these firms), indicating the existence of coopetition in this scenario. These joint patents demonstrate coopetition between firms from different countries and in the main areas in which their patents are classified, indicating that they may coopete in those areas. Furthermore, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures may influence coopetition and innovation, resulting in joint patents. Finally, a framework that consolidates the main findings is presented to guide future research. We contribute to the coopetition literature with novel inputs. From a managerial perspective, the findings can be used to build strategies to better exploit the potential of patents.     

Reverse innovation,international patenting and economic inertia: Constraints to appropriating the benefits of technological innovation

In this paper we compare the role of outward-bound international patenting in “reverse innovation” and in conventional international modes of innovation. Through analysis of panel data from 148 countries over 18 years we reveal that, while all countries may in principle appropriate economic benefits from endogenous technological innovation by increasing their level of outward-bound international patenting, the ability of a country to do so may be hampered by the pre-existing level of its economy. We classify countries in to four strategic innovation quadrants—Slow Movers, Traders, Inventors and Cosmopolitans—based on the relative change over time in their competitiveness in international patenting and their per capita wealth. The mix of wealthy countries and less wealthy countries varies greatly between quadrants, with the wealthy countries dominating the Cosmopolitans quadrant and the less wealthy countries dominating the Slow Movers quadrant. We conclude that, for lower income countries to improve their success in appropriating the benefits of reverse innovation, innovators and would-be innovators based in those countries need to develop sophistication and prowess in international patenting strategy and intellectual property management tailored to the unique conditions of each country.     

The development of science and technology in China: A comparison with India and the United States

In “The Outline of the Medium and Long-term National Plan for Science and Technology Development (2006–2020)” (OMLP)), the Chinese government outlined an ambitious goal to become an innovation-driven country by 2020. However, there are many barriers that restrain the development of the national innovation capacity of enterprises. This paper reviews the capacity for science and technology (S&T) and innovation in China, including the factors that influence capacity building, the supporting policies for implementing the OMLP, and the promotion of capacity building for S&T and innovation in China. The paper concludes with recommendations for promoting further development of S&T and innovation in China.     

Expanding competitive advantage through organizational culture,knowledge sharing and organizational innovation

This research empirically investigates the relationship between organizational culture, knowledge sharing, organizational innovation, and competitive advantage. Data were collected from 294 industrial managers, and PLS-SEM was used to validate data and examine the hypothesized relationships. Results revealed that organizational culture, knowledge sharing, and organizational innovation positively affect competitive advantage. More specifically, organizational culture fosters knowledge-sharing and innovation activities among the workforce and links them with high-level business processes that could be conducive to acquiring advanced manufacturing capabilities. The present study highlighted that organizational culture is indispensable for business operational success, and knowledge-sharing and organizational innovation appear to be key drivers for gaining competitive advantage.     

Technology and growth in Spain (1950–1960): An evidence of Schumpeterian pattern of innovation based on patents

The analysis of the structural changes in the Spanish economy (1950–1960) has been undertaken using Schumpeterian models of innovation. As patent information plays an important role in technological development, this study has been based on the availability of a newly released data from the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. This analysis has been specified by means of the development of indicators relating to the degree of concentration of innovative activity, the innovation size of companies, the level of instability, the technological growth rate, and the presence of foreign innovators. The results highlight the existence of typical technological factors intrinsic to the sectors of economic activity and invariants between countries.     

Using patents and publications to assess R&D efficiency in the states of the USA

Even with the USA spending the largest amounts in R&D, its share in total patent grants worldwide has been declining. This decline is also evident in its share of world scientific publications. These developments have been termed by some as the “American Paradox”. Extant research on R&D efficiency and technological innovation capability has considered the USA as a homogeneous entity and has not focused at the sub-national level. This paper analyses the R&D efficiency of 50 US states and the District of Columbia. R&D efficiency is calculated as the ratio of patents granted and scientific publications to R&D expenditures. Only 14 states out of the 51 regions are found to exhibit positive changes in R&D efficiency between 2004 and 2008. Comparing this performance with that of the BRICS nations over the same period we find that Brazil, India, China and South Korea show significant improvements in R&D efficiency with India taking the lead. This research identifies the states in the US with the highest R&D efficiency and presents benchmarks which can be followed by policy interventions. The paper highlights the importance of conducting analyses of R&D efficiency using patents and publications at the sub-national level for informed policy making.     

Which firms use trademarks? Firm-level evidence from Germany on the role of distance,product quality and innovation

ABSTRACT

Trademarking firms are more productive, generate higher profits, and have a better survival rate. Trademarking firms are in one word more successful, which might motivate non-trademarking firms to adopt a trademark strategy. But this does not seem to be the case. The proportion of trademarking firms in the German business sector amounts to just 18%. This figure is quite low, given that nearly each firm has reputation to protect. But why does the vast majority of firms not have registered trademarks? Using a representative sample of German firms, the present paper links certain firm characteristics to a firm’s propensity to register trademarks. The empirical results point to circumstances under which trademarks are significantly more often used: this is the case where a large distance between a firm and its customers exists, a firm’s product quality is difficult to assess, a firm’s products are characterised by a limited (but not strong) substitutability, and where a firm is engaged in R&D and introduces innovative products. Trademarks are considerably less frequently used if none of this is the case.     

Patent citation: A technique for measuring the knowledge flow of information and innovation

Knowledge cannot be bound, restricted or categorized. Knowledge is precisely an intangible strength that has a definite economic importance if well utilized and commercialized. Knowledge spillover is an occurrence, which is imaginable but difficult to have an effective measurement of it. Patents citation is a developing concept and has gained momentum in recent past. Patents citation contains valuable data and if analyzed well, may sometimes reveal concealed mysteries of the information flow between countries, laboratories, companies, and universities. Profuse technical research has been conducted on this topic by many scientists. Through these experiments, scientists have tried to show that the innovative information hidden in patents crosses every barrier and is taken by the research labs for its further expansion. Patents citation reveals the diffusion of information and its applicability into many other technical fields which give birth to a new technology. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of patents citation analysis covering and promoting the landmark research done in the field of patents citation, informing readers to consider this important segment of patent document as a field for analysis. Also, this paper presents an innovative methodology for generating patent citation network with the help of techniques of Information Retrievals.     

Intellectual property management and awareness at the university level in the biotechnology era: a Thai perspective

In the particular context of a developing country, the problems arising from a lack of awareness of intellectual property in universities in Thailand is described. These problems include a poor negotiating position in formulating licensing and like agreements, especially in relation to such agreements with developed countries. The situation in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical areas is highlighted, for example the formulation of pharmaceutical products with active ingredients related to those present in traditional medicines. Improvements at the universities proposed to address these issues embrace setting up intellectual property departments within each university and substantially increasing the level of intellectual property awareness in both under- and postgraduate courses.     

Similarity search in patents databases. The evaluations of the search quality

The article describes the evaluation criterion for similarity search in the patent search systems suggested by the authors. The use of artificial intelligence methods, artificial neural networks and machine learning for improving similarity search is described. The results of the comparison based on the proposed criteria for similarity search in Google Patent system, Yandex Patents system and the Russian patent office retrieval system PatSearch are given.     

Exploring the relationship between university innovation intermediaries and patenting performance

This paper investigates the role of university intermediary organisations in entrepreneurially orientated universities, in terms of their patent performance based on a large-scale survey of such organisations in Turkey. The findings from 1236 responses indicate that intermediary organisations, regardless of their type, are crucial in increasing the patenting performance of universities, although this also had a regional dimension. The research also charts the organisational evolution of university innovation intermediaries in Turkey suggesting that the success of organisational forms in promoting industry-academic links and university research commercialisation will vary according to the wider institutional and socio-economic frameworks of the national and regional systems of innovation in which the universities are posited.     

Agglomeration and innovation of knowledge intensive business services

ABSTRACT

For some time now, the research focusing on Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) has been very active. Observing that knowledge as a production factor is only becoming more and more pronounced, this focus is well-grounded. It is therefore important to examine how these knowledge-hubs gain and propagate their knowledge. We hypothesize that KIBS (as many other sectors) benefit from intra-industry knowledge spillovers facilitated by geographical concentration. Our focus is the innovative capacity of KIBS, which we measure through trademarks registered by KIBS firms. While there may be several mechanisms facilitating knowledge spillovers, we can identify local intra-sectoral labor mobility as one. Accessibility measures are used to assess the geographical attenuation of the spillover effects. Results show that the distance decay of spillovers is fast. Only local concentrations of KIBS seem to be of importance. Over longer distances, we instead observe negative consequences for trademarking, indicating possible spatial competition effects.     

Optimal degree of openness in open innovation: A perspective from knowledge acquisition & knowledge leakage

Open innovation has become an important mode for firms to improve innovation performance. If the openness is too low, it will reduce the opportunity to acquire external knowledge, while too open will increase the risk of internal knowledge leakage. Therefore, the degree of openness plays a key role in the use of open innovation to improve innovation performance. We use the openness breadth and openness depth to describe the openness of innovation. We conduct an agent-based simulation methodology to study the optimal degree of openness. Our findings show that there are great differences in the optimal degree of openness under different situations. Moreover, as the situation changes, the optimal degree of openness changes regularly. More specifically, the more a firm's knowledge network structure holes, the smaller the optimal openness breadth and the greater the optimal openness depth. The higher a firm's knowledge network centrality, the greater the optimal openness breadth and the smaller the optimal openness depth. The worse the institutional environment, the smaller the optimal openness breadth and openness depth. The fiercer the market competition, the greater the optimal openness breadth and the smaller the optimal openness depth.     

Exploring 4G patent and litigation informatics in the mobile telecommunications industry

Patent informatics are often analysed for IP protections, particularly in high-tech industries. This research develops a computer-supported generic methodology for discovering evolutions and linkages between litigations and disputed patents. The IP litigations in mobile telecommunications are used as the case study. An ontology framework representing the 4G domain knowledge is defined first. Then, a modified formal concept analysis (MFCA) approach is developed to discover the evolutionary linkages of legal cases and their disputed patents. In addition to citation-based patent analysis, this research provides a new approach in identifying legal and technical evolutions for future R&D planning and IP strategies.     

A tale of two innovation cultures: Bridging the gap between makers and manufacturers

Maker communities have been widely popularized during the last decade throughout the development of numerous shared spaces in the form of makerspaces, fab labs and hackerspaces across the globe. This phenomenon has drawn the attention of many stakeholders interested in establishing bridges with them for exploring their innovation potential. However, synergies between producer innovation and free innovation paradigms remain quite uncertain. To meet this gap, the authors provide an analysis of the 22 collaborative innovations between makers and manufacturers funded by the OPENMAKER project as well as relevant empirical evidence gathered throughout 126 semi-structured interviews. The findings of this contribution stress the misalignment of makers and manufacturers in society as well as their different values and motivations around innovation, and the lack of shared spaces. At the same time, the paper highlights the benefits that the interaction between these two communities could have for meeting societal challenges, increasing social welfare and speeding up innovation processes if proper incentives and conditions are orchestrated. In this sense, we propose a set of considerations and implications based on the empirical material gathered, for providing future directions for innovation policies and research agendas.     

A new, innovative and marketable IP diagnosis to evaluate, qualify and find insights for the development of SMEs IP practices and use, based on the AIDA approach

As in our knowledge economy, intellectual assets represented by intellectual and industrial property and associated rights are of growing importance for companies, it is essential for them to be aware of what they own, how to manage these assets, what are their strengths and weaknesses related to those issues.This is why, through a European project co-financed by the European Commission, an action aimed at solving such issues has been taken.The first part of the work undertaken by this action is presented in this article.It consists in the development of an IP questionnaire, based on the adaptation of the marketing and sales AIDA model, allowing classifying IP practices and uses within a progressive scale. In order to get rapid understanding from companies, graphics that can be easily analyzed have been introduced.The originality of the methodology is that the AIDA classification used, gives the opportunity to classify a set of tools or services to be delivered in order to increase the IP practices and performance in companies.     

Entrepreneurial networks and open innovation: the role of strategic and embedded ties

This paper considers the open innovation paradigm in the context of entrepreneurial firms. Based on an analysis of survey data, it examines the relationship between network ties and innovation. These are considered as the strategic network ties associated with open innovation and the embedded ties associated with entrepreneurial networks. It is found that both strategic and embedded ties are significantly associated with rates of innovation for entrepreneurial firms, although for the former this relationship is driven by a minority of larger or highly innovative firms. Strategic ties are most strongly linked to product and organisational innovations, whilst process innovations are more related to embedded network ties. There is some evidence of complementarity between the two forms of network tie. It is concluded that in the entrepreneurial context, the open innovation concept should be broadened to encompass the role performed by embedded network ties.     

Exploring the impact of organisational,technological and relational contingencies on innovation speed in the light of open innovation

ABSTRACT

Striving for competitive advantage pushes firms to innovate at a high speed along innovation contingencies and resource limitations they face. Yet, little is known about how management of contingencies such as absorptive capacity or technology radicalness can impact the innovation speed of firms. In this explorative study, we provide new empirical evidence to the innovation speed literature. We examine to what extent innovation speed is affected by organisational, technological, and relational contingencies that preoccupy firms with open innovation practices. Taking the firm perspective, we track innovation timeline and emphasise the complex trade-offs that firms encounter while innovating. Our results show that many of the contingencies, emphasised by the literature promoting innovation, could slow down its speed. Thus, strengthening competitiveness by accommodating contingencies can hinder time-critical adaptations. Furthermore, we find that innovation assets and capabilities can become liabilities for technologically innovative firms.