Knowledge Creates Markets: The Influence of Entrepreneurial Support and Patent Rights on Academic Entrepreneurship

48 Pages Posted: 28 Apr 2016

See all articles by Dirk Czarnitzki

Dirk Czarnitzki

KU Leuven - Department of Managerial Economics, Strategy, and Innovation; Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)

Thorsten Doherr

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Paula Schliessler

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Andrew Toole

United States Patent and Trademark Office

Date Written: April 2016

Abstract

We use an exogenous change in German Federal law to examine how entrepreneurial support and the ownership of patent rights influence academic entrepreneurship. In 2002, the German Federal Government enacted a major reform called Knowledge Creates Markets that set up new infrastructure to facilitate university-industry technology transfer and shifted the ownership of patent rights from university researchers to their universities. Based on a novel researcher-level panel database that includes a control group not affected by the policy change, we find no evidence that the new infrastructure resulted in an increase in start-up companies by university researchers. The shift in patent rights may have strengthened the relationship between patents on university-discovered inventions and university start-ups; however, it substantially decreased the volume of patents with the largest decrease taking place in faculty-firm patenting relationships.

Keywords: Intellectual property, patents, technology transfer, policy evaluation

JEL Classification: O34, O38

Suggested Citation

Czarnitzki, Dirk and Doherr, Thorsten and Schliessler, Paula and Toole, Andrew A, Knowledge Creates Markets: The Influence of Entrepreneurial Support and Patent Rights on Academic Entrepreneurship (April 2016). ZEW - Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 16-036, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2771113 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2771113

Dirk Czarnitzki (Contact Author)

KU Leuven - Department of Managerial Economics, Strategy, and Innovation ( email )

Naamsestraat 69 bus 3500
Leuven, 3000
Belgium

Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
Mannheim, 68034
Germany

Thorsten Doherr

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68161 Mannheim
Germany

Paula Schliessler

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68034 Mannheim, 68034
Germany

Andrew A Toole

United States Patent and Trademark Office ( email )

Alexandria
VA 22313-1451
United States

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