Production of University Technological Knowledge in European Regions: Evidence from Patent Data

Acosta M., Coronado D., Leon M. D. and Martinez M. A. Production of university technological knowledge in European regions: evidence from patent data, Regional Studies. This paper explores the European regional distribution of the production of new technological knowledge generated by universities, as measured by patent counts. The empirical basis for this study is a unique panel data set of 4580 European university patents from 1998 to 2004. The main findings were a strong regional and sectoral concentration of patents, and no average relation between university technological specialization and industrial specialization. Furthermore, the results suggest that variations in regional research and development funding do affect patenting activities in regions, with elasticities showing constant returns to scale, but no evidence was found regarding the industrial potential of the region encouraging the production of new university technological knowledge.