An analysis of FDA-approved new molecular entities reveals dynamism in terms of new innovation. An assessment of the first patent for each drug reveals that the pharmaceutical industry, particularly large, established companies in North America, tend to dominate the field. Over the past 10-15...

Universities’ centrality within the public research systems has been increasing over time, as it has their interactions with industry. Such interaction poses two dilemmas. One concerns individual scientists and the potential trade-off between basic research activities and those activities...

The effect of a firm's size is analysed in relation with the probability of applying for a patent. We worked on the identification of a firm's minimum size, a threshold needed to formally protect an innovation by legal means. Below this minimum size the costs associated with protection are so...