University patenting and the pace of industrial innovation

Universities, traditionally sources of basic science and research knowledge for industrial researchers, have responded to recent public policy changes by increasingly patenting research results produced by academic researchers. While proponents of strong intellectual property protection argue the benefits of strong rights to promote innovation and facilitate markets for knowledge exchange, critics express concerns over restrictions on diffusion and use of upstream knowledge. Results of an analysis of industrial innovation suggest that increasing university patenting is associated with a slowing pace of knowledge exploitation, especially in technology areas that rely more heavily on science as an input to innovation. This new evidence suggests that university patenting may indeed be hindering or at least slowing industrial innovation.