Co-patenting between University and Industry: evidence from Italy

This paper focuses on academic patents owned by business companies and investigates the factors affecting the industry involvement in academic research aimed at obtaining new patents. The focus is on co-patenting, i. e. those patents in which university professors are inventors, while business companies are patent applicant. In particular, we investigate if the co-patenting between academicians and companies is affected by two main factors: the academic research quality and the regional industry structure. The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 300 patents produced by university professors as inventors. We have selected professors belonging to seven Italian Universities. In summary, the results of the analysis, suggest that factors related to the regional context, rather than factors related to the academicians’ performance assume a major role in promoting business involvement in academic research activities that will end in a new patent.