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University invention and the abolishment of the professor's privilege in Finland

Ejermo, Olof LU and Toivanen, Hannes (2018) In Research Policy 47(4). p.814-825
Abstract

In 2007 Finland changed ownership rights to inventions from its employees - "the professor's privilege" - to universities. We investigate how this change affected academic patenting using new data on inventors and patenting in Finland for the period 1995-2010. Matched sample panel data regressions using difference-in-differences show that patenting by individuals dropped by at least 29 percent after 2007. Unlike other countries studied, in Finland the reform was known before implementation. Adding the period after announcement to the reform period increases the drop in academic patenting to 46 percent. Our and others' results call into question whether the European reform of the professor's privilege were good innovation policy.

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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Academic patenting, Finland, Professor's privilege, University ownership
in
Research Policy
volume
47
issue
4
pages
814 - 825
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85042936005
ISSN
0048-7333
DOI
10.1016/j.respol.2018.03.001
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5cf4c486-f358-4315-8691-f739f6ec472d
date added to LUP
2018-03-15 15:57:51
date last changed
2024-01-14 16:42:54
@article{5cf4c486-f358-4315-8691-f739f6ec472d,
  abstract     = {{<p>In 2007 Finland changed ownership rights to inventions from its employees - "the professor's privilege" - to universities. We investigate how this change affected academic patenting using new data on inventors and patenting in Finland for the period 1995-2010. Matched sample panel data regressions using difference-in-differences show that patenting by individuals dropped by at least 29 percent after 2007. Unlike other countries studied, in Finland the reform was known before implementation. Adding the period after announcement to the reform period increases the drop in academic patenting to 46 percent. Our and others' results call into question whether the European reform of the professor's privilege were good innovation policy.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ejermo, Olof and Toivanen, Hannes}},
  issn         = {{0048-7333}},
  keywords     = {{Academic patenting; Finland; Professor's privilege; University ownership}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{814--825}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Research Policy}},
  title        = {{University invention and the abolishment of the professor's privilege in Finland}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2018.03.001}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.respol.2018.03.001}},
  volume       = {{47}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}