CRITICAL RESOURCE DIMENSIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF PATENTS — AN ANALYSIS OF 131 NEW TECHNOLOGY-BASED FIRMS LOCALISED IN INCUBATORS

The purpose of this study is to analyse critical resource dimensions for development of patents for these new technology-based firms. The empirical base is 131 new technology-based firms in five high-tech industries: Software/information technology, technology consultants, electronics/electrical, pharmacology and pharmaceutical preparation and mechanics, localised on 16 incubators in Sweden. The incubators in this study are all affiliated to a university. The 131 localised new technology-based firms that answered the questionnaire were rather young (mean 2.76 years) and small (mean 2.07 employees). Five hypotheses were developed from the literature and statistical methods such as factor analysis, correlation and regression analysis were used. The study presents a significant model in several resource dimensions. The study shows that the most important resource dimensions (latent variables) are R&D network, lawyers and patent councils, business competition and university/incubator that will affect development of patents in a positive way.