Co-ownership of IP in Open Innovation: measuring Impact and occurrence with co-patent indicators

The primary role of Open Innovation practices in economical transactions and market for technology has far been confirmed by recent literature. Open Innovation supplies a coherent rationale for why companies should promote IP co-development and sharing, in a proactive effort towards the exchange of valuable knowledge in the markets for technology and innovation. In this work, we will focus on co-patenting as a potential way to investigate the paradox of Open Innovation. The dichotomy between value-creation implications of R&D collaboration and value-appropriation challenges of IP sharing inherits its contradiction from the theories of Transaction Cost Economics: internal R&D limits transaction costs, but does not allow to access to specialist know-how available externally. Analysis of trends will be performed through descriptive statistics and regression models, drawing from data aggregated over years at national and technological level. Results will unveil heterogeneity in the propensity of co-patenting, both over time and across technological fields and geographical territories. The study will thus attempt to disclose the rationale behind trends and statistics by unbundling numbers and examining data at the patent level. Patent indicators will be defined and included in the analysis to determine the Impact of co-patenting on firms’ performance, as to draft the reasons leading companies to engage in a collaborative innovative effort.