Analysts and policy makers have made increasing use of patent indicators to analyse the rate and direction of technological activity. The Patents Manual, issued in 1994, provides information on how patent data can be used as indicators, and also shows how these can be linked to other statistics...

Few systematic economic evaluations have been carried out on patent system to better inform policy choices. This report, which covers a range of areas, and highlights some issues that policy makers should address in the near future, including markets for technology, patenting by public reserach...