The Handbook of Technology and Innovation Management

10.5. Conclusion

Intellectual property is the foundation of the modern information economy. It fuels the software, life sciences, and computer industries, and pervades most of the products we consume. Gallini and Scotchmer (2002, p. 51)

Based on the evidence from 19 peer-reviewed journals, interest in IP within the academic community has grown considerably over the past two decades. The proliferation of IP-related studies partly reflects the more widespread use of patent data, and the citations they contain, in studies of innovation. It is now quite common to use patent data to compile various indicators of innovative performance and to trace patterns of knowledge flows. Even so, patents can provide distorted views of innovative activity and can be altered by shifts in the legal environment. As illustrated by the studies discussed above, additional insights can be gleaned from use of complementary data sources or from interviews with business practitioners.

Scholars of innovation and the determinants of firm performance also have more substantive reasons to pay greater attention to the accumulation, use, and exchange of IP-related assets. The basis of competitive advantage in advanced economies rests critically on the management of intangible assets, thus elevating the strategic value of ownership and control rights to know-how, creative works, and technological or scientific discoveries. Due to the proliferation of IP rights over the past few decades, firms are also likely ...