Academic inventions outside the university: investigating patent ownership in the UK

This paper investigates the ownership of academic patents for a sample of UK academics and challenges the existing definition of the university invention ownership model. The first descriptive results show that 50% of patents are owned by industry, however, 37% of these firm-assigned patents are in...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lawson, Cornelia
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28537/
_version_ 1848793591001907200
author Lawson, Cornelia
author_facet Lawson, Cornelia
author_sort Lawson, Cornelia
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper investigates the ownership of academic patents for a sample of UK academics and challenges the existing definition of the university invention ownership model. The first descriptive results show that 50% of patents are owned by industry, however, 37% of these firm-assigned patents are in fact owned by university spin-offs. We investigate how university policy and funding acquisition impacts industry vs. university ownership, and find that funding from large firms predicts involvement in patenting and, to a lesser extent, firm ownership. University ownership of academic patents is more likely the higher the amount of funding coming from SMEs, and at universities that outsource the filing of patents. Spin-off patents occupy an intermediate position showing strong similarities to both firm and university patents.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:02:44Z
format Article
id nottingham-28537
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:02:44Z
publishDate 2013
publisher Taylor & Francis
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-285372020-05-04T20:18:42Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28537/ Academic inventions outside the university: investigating patent ownership in the UK Lawson, Cornelia This paper investigates the ownership of academic patents for a sample of UK academics and challenges the existing definition of the university invention ownership model. The first descriptive results show that 50% of patents are owned by industry, however, 37% of these firm-assigned patents are in fact owned by university spin-offs. We investigate how university policy and funding acquisition impacts industry vs. university ownership, and find that funding from large firms predicts involvement in patenting and, to a lesser extent, firm ownership. University ownership of academic patents is more likely the higher the amount of funding coming from SMEs, and at universities that outsource the filing of patents. Spin-off patents occupy an intermediate position showing strong similarities to both firm and university patents. Taylor & Francis 2013-10 Article PeerReviewed Lawson, Cornelia (2013) Academic inventions outside the university: investigating patent ownership in the UK. Industry and Innovation, 20 (5). pp. 385-398. ISSN 1366-2716 Academic patenting; University-industry collaboration; Sponsored research; Academic entrepreneurship; Patent ownership http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/tDrSiFu35u9kK9S3Tvbx/full doi:10.1080/13662716.2013.824191 doi:10.1080/13662716.2013.824191
spellingShingle Academic patenting; University-industry collaboration; Sponsored research; Academic entrepreneurship; Patent ownership
Lawson, Cornelia
Academic inventions outside the university: investigating patent ownership in the UK
title Academic inventions outside the university: investigating patent ownership in the UK
title_full Academic inventions outside the university: investigating patent ownership in the UK
title_fullStr Academic inventions outside the university: investigating patent ownership in the UK
title_full_unstemmed Academic inventions outside the university: investigating patent ownership in the UK
title_short Academic inventions outside the university: investigating patent ownership in the UK
title_sort academic inventions outside the university: investigating patent ownership in the uk
topic Academic patenting; University-industry collaboration; Sponsored research; Academic entrepreneurship; Patent ownership
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28537/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28537/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28537/