Policy-makers and the R&D-patent relationship. Bruegel Policy Contribution/May 2008

This policy contribution summarises a communication entitled “A policy insight into the R&D-patent relationship” presented at Industry Canada in their Distinguished Speakers in Economics Series, Ottawa, Canada, 18 April, 2008. It argues that the number of priority filings should be used as a patent-based measure of Europe’s innovation performance. It also identifies several policies that may affect the R&D-patent relationship. Patent-based indicators at the country level are frequently used to assess countries’ innovation performance or effort. Yet they are often said to reflect the propensity to patent rather than actual research productivity. We argue that patent-based indicators can rightly be used to measure research productivity, as witnessed by the influence of several policy tools on the R&D-patent relationship. We also put forward a new counting methodology, less subject to ‘home bias’.