Academic patents as an indicator of useful research? A new approach to measure academic inventiveness

Academic patents may be a more accurate measure of inventive output generated by academics than university-owned patents. Using Finnish data, a comparative analysis suggests that number of academic patents is higher not only than the number of university-owned patents but also than patents citing domestic science. Also different linkage intensities could be identified. The second part of the study tries to identify areas for further analysis and introduces some results with respect to concentration of academic inventive activity, academic contributions to national patenting and utilization of patented inventions. Finally, limitations and applicability of the overall approach are discussed.