The relation between the firm’s IP strategy and occupation and qualification of the R&D labour force

The past decades have witnessed a large growth in patenting and out-licensing rendering the IP strategy an important element for innovation management. The paper looks at the relation between the formal qualification and occupation of R&D personnel and the IP strategy by focussing on the probability of firms? to register patents and to out-license technology in order to generate revenue. Based on the occupational and educational characteristics of R&D personnel it is shown that patent registration and income generating from licensing imply a different set of skills from the R&D labour force. Looking at the occupation of the R&D staff, patenting can be related to the presence of R&D managers & researchers and also to R&D support staff; whereas out-licensing is linked to the R&D support staff solely. Second, regarding the level of education, the act of registering patents and generating revenue from them depends on R&D staff having a doctoral degree.