Journal of Industrial Economics · 1998 · 355 citations · 0 references
ManagementInnovation ManagementTechnology ManagementInnovationIntellectual PropertyTechnology CommercializationInnovation Impact AssessmentInnovation PolicyIntellectual Property ProtectionPatent AnalysisResearch CommercializationResearch PolicyPatent BibliometricsPatent Citation TrajectoriesPatent Citations As Spillover ProxiesPatent CountsPatent SpilloversScientific InnovationTechnology Commercialization Policy
The study examines federal lab commercialization by analyzing U.S. government patents and conducting a qualitative analysis of one NASA lab’s patents. The analysis compares three patent sets—NASA, all other U.S.
Federal lab commercialization is explored: (1) by analyzing US government patents and (2) in a qualitative analysis of one NASA lab’s patents. Tests apply to three distinct sets of patents, 1963–94: NASA, all other US government, and a random sample of all US inventors’ patents. The federal patenting rate plummeted in the 1970s. Consistent with increasing commercialization, both NASA’s and other federal agencies’ rates recovered in the 1980s. The case study finds citations to be a valid but noisy measure of technology spillovers. Excluding ‘spurious’ cites, two‐thirds of cites to patents of NASA‐Lewis’ Electro‐Physics Branch were evaluated as involving spillovers.