Patent activity as an effect of the research and development of the business enterprise sectors in the countries of the European Union

Patent activity is specified in the available literature as one of most common effects of research and development (R&D) activities. Current studies' results, presented in the literature, focus on a single or group of enterprises, but do not take into account the relationship between R&D spending and patent activity at the mesoeconomic level, exemplified by the business enterprise sector. The scope of this article is to evaluate the efficiency of R&D expenditure from the patent activity point of view. The main research question is: does the efficiency of R&D expenditure, measured by the patent activity of the business enterprise sector, improve in the long term? The research covers 28 European Union countries. The conclusion is that increasing patent activity in the business enterprise sector, in the long term, depends on the management of R&D activities in entities belonging to that sector, rather than increasing R&D spending.