Record linkage algorithms typically find matches by comparing records on the fields they share. However, PATSTAT shares very little information with company databases. We introduce REMERGE: a flexible, open-source algorithm that allows PATSTAT, the worldwide patent database, to be intelligently...

This paper reports a new approach to disambiguation of large patent databases. Available international patent databases do not identify unique innovators. Record disambiguation poses a significant barrier to subsequent research. Present methods for overcoming this barrier couple ad-hoc rules for...

This paper reports an approach to linking data on European emitters to data on their innovation practices. We illustrate a straightforward approach to record linkage between the European Union Community Integrated Transaction Log (CITL) and the PATSTAT international patent database. We show how...

The economic and financial crisis in Europe is affecting the financing of long-term infrastructure investment. There are multiple clearly identifiable channels: reduced demand for long-term investment, a tightening prudential framework for lending, upward adjustment of risk perception, complex...

The competitiveness of countries and that of firms are different concepts. EU GDP is stable at two-thirds of the US, but productivity growth has lagged since the 1990s. The EU does better on wealth equality and clean-tech export shares. The EU faces two supply-side disadvantages: high energy...

This paper reviews the state of EU competitiveness and introduces a strategy to improve it, based on medium-term, sector-level coordination of Member State reform policies and/or investments. The idea is illustrated with two examples: an investment and reform programme to create a single EU...