Determinants of invention commercialization: an empirical examination of academically sourced inventions

Abstract

Abstract We examine the attributes of technological inventions that influence their commercialization. Using a unique dataset of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)‐licensed patents, we show that the likelihood of invention commercialization, which we measure by the achievement of first sale, is positively associated with two characteristics of licensed technological inventions—scope and pioneering nature—and has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with the age of the invention. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.