Numbers of persons with a higher education have inclined fast during the last dec-ades, as the University sector in Sweden has increased. This due to that the Swedish government has had a very encouraging attitude towards the Universities position for economic regional growth. The aim of this thesis is to see if there are any relationships between students at a University in a region and the number of patents that have been applied for in the same region using data taken from European patent of-fice and Statistics Sweden. Patent is one way to measure innovations, and knowledge is one of the core foundations for new innovations. Different models have been used to determine if any significant relationship between patent applications and number of people with higher education is present. The empirical findings came up with the results that numbers of people with higher education have positive relationship with University regions. The two variables, people with higher technical education and research and development at Universities also showed positive significant results, which gives support for the chosen theories in the thesis. It is hard to say that the decen-tralization of the Swedish universities have been a total success, because in the thesis results were found which shoed that the Malmö region was outstanding in terms of patent applications. In this region many different Universities and private R&D de-partments are located, together with students etc. Further research in this field has to be conducted to be able to give the policy maker better foundation for decisions.

<p>Numbers of persons with a higher education have inclined fast during the last dec-ades, as the University sector in Sweden has increased. This due to that the Swedish government has had a very encouraging attitude towards the Universities position for economic regional growth. The aim of this thesis is to see if there are any relationships between students at a University in a region and the number of patents that have been applied for in the same region using data taken from European patent of-fice and Statistics Sweden. Patent is one way to measure innovations, and knowledge is one of the core foundations for new innovations. Different models have been used to determine if any significant relationship between patent applications and number of people with higher education is present. The empirical findings came up with the results that numbers of people with higher education have positive relationship with University regions. The two variables, people with higher technical education and research and development at Universities also showed positive significant results, which gives support for the chosen theories in the thesis. It is hard to say that the decen-tralization of the Swedish universities have been a total success, because in the thesis results were found which shoed that the Malmö region was outstanding in terms of patent applications. In this region many different Universities and private R&D de-partments are located, together with students etc. Further research in this field has to be conducted to be able to give the policy maker better foundation for decisions.</p>

The major advances in the identification of the human genome that took place from the early 1990s onwards triggered a significant increase in the number of patent applications concerning newly discovered human gene sequences that nevertheless failed to disclose the function of the isolated material, and thus did not meet the patent law requirement of industrial application. In order to address this issue the 1998 Directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions (Biotech Directive) 1 required patent applicants to disclose the industrial applicability of inventions covering human gene sequences and related proteins at the time of the patent application. Furthermore, the Biotech Directive established functionality-related protection for all types of genetic inventions, thus restricting the scope of protection granted to human genetic inventions to their ability to perform the industrial application disclosed by the applicant. This thesis analyses the implications of the Biotech Directive's approach towards the industrial application of human genes and fragments thereof in respect of three issues: the assessment of the industrial applicability of inventions concerning sequences or partial sequences of human genes; the distinction between discoveries and patentable inventions when the claimed subject matter is human genetic material; and the determination of the scope of protection awarded to patents over genetic information. The thesis argues that the requirement of industrial application can act as an efficient checkpoint for preventing the grant of patents over human genetic discoveries of no practical benefit to society, but also for impeding the issuance of overly broad patents in this field. At the same time, a strict interpretation of this requirement does not imply that patent authorities will systematically overlook the interests of private firms, but it is intended to set a realistic standard that serves to avoid the rise of undue barriers in the pursuit of research and innovation in this industry.

This paper explores the stock market as a source of funding for innovation by looking at the ability of the stock market to attract, identify and channel funds to innovative firms. We analysed 541 IPOs on the Swedish stock market between the years 2000-2015, using patent applications as a proxy for innovation. Results from an event study and regressions using two control groups show that firms find the stock market an attractive source of funding for innovation and that going public helps firms overcome liquidity restraints. By looking at the long- and short-term performance, measured by stock prices, of innovative firms by conducting OLS regressions, our results suggest; one, that there is an initial demand for innovative companies undergoing an IPO in comparison to non-innovative firms. And two, that investors are able to predict future innovativeness to some extent, but that they have some difficulties in anticipating future performance of innovative firms.

Scholars have studied how exogenous shocks affect innovation, yet the effects of COVID-19 on one measure of innovative activity, numbers of patent applications, are not well understood. This study looks at what effect disruptions related to COVID-19 have had on numbers of patent applications submitted by inventors in the United States. Using the Patent Examination Research Dataset from the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, I examine how numbers of patent applications have changed in 2020 and what effect economic disruptions, health disruptions, and nonpharmaceutical interventions related to COVID-19 have had on numbers of patent applications submitted among US states. Descriptive analysis shows that patent applications for large firms, small firms, and independent inventors have dropped from 2019 to 2020, yet small firms had the smallest decrease. Statistical models indicate that percent change in GDP is positively associated with patents applications per capita while COVID cases, COVID deaths, and nonpharmaceutical interventions have no little to no association with patent applications per capita.

Diese Dissertation analysiert eine Vielzahl von Aspekten, die sich auf Patente und Patentrennen beziehen. Im einleitenden Kapitel wird die betriebs- und volkswirtschaftliche sowie die gesellschaftliche und ethische Bedeutung von Patenten hervorgehoben. Es werden sowohl Stärken als auch Nachteile von Patenten vorgestellt. Kapitel 2 beschreibt Instrumente, die von Entscheidungsträgern benutzt werden können, um Patentschutz zu regulieren: Patentbreite, -höhe und -länge. Das Kapitel zeigt weiterhin, warum ein optimales Regulierungsniveau nicht erreicht werden kann. Kapitel 3 behandelt den dramatischen Anstieg von Patenttätigkeiten in Europa als auch weltweit. Erklärende Faktoren für dieses Phänomen sowie Effekte und mögliche Lösungen werden diskutiert. Im vierten Kapitel wird gezeigt, dass Patente zu einem großen Gewinnzuwachs in der Pharmaindustrie beigetragen haben, während die Innovationsfähigkeit dieser Industrie gesunken ist. Patentrennen für Pharmaka und die Entwicklung von Generika werden auch in diesem Kapitel analysiert. Kapitel 5 gibt einen umfangreichen Überblick der Literatur zum Patentrennen und zeigt, dass diese Literatur extrem komplex, widersprüchlich, instabil bei experimenteller Überprüfung und allgemein uneindeutig ist. Kapitel 6 stellt eine experimentelle Studie eines Patentrennens vor. Es beginnt mit einem intuitiven Modell eines Segelwettbewerbs; danach wird ein spieltheoretisches Modell eines asymmetrischen F&E-Wettbewerbs zwischen zwei Firmen entwickelt; später werden Gleichgewichtsvoraussagen formuliert und mit den Handlungen realer Entscheidungsträger in einem experimentellen Labor verglichen. Eine ökonometrische Untersuchung zeigt ein hohes Maß an Übereinstimmung zwischen den theoretischen Vorhersagen und den experimentellen Ergebnissen. Das letzte Kapitel fasst die Schlussfolgerungen der Dissertationen zusammen und bietet Empfehlungen. / This dissertation analyzes a plethora of aspects related to patents and patent races. In the introductory chapter the importance of patents to business, economics, society and ethics is emphasized. On one side, the traditional argument in favor of patent protection as well as further strengths of patents are presented, while on the other side situations in which patents bring significant drawbacks and disadvantages are identified. Chapter 2 describes the instruments that can be used by policymakers to regulate patent protection: patent breadth, height and length. The chapter further shows why an optimal level of regulation cannot be achieved. Chapter 3 deals with the dramatic increase in patenting activities in Europe and around the world. Determinants of this phenomenon as well as its effects and potential solutions are provided. In the fourth chapter patents are shown to have contributed to a large rise of profits in the pharmaceutical industry, while the industry’s innovativeness seems to have declined. Patent races for pharmaceuticals and the evolution of generic medicine are also analyzed in this chapter. Chapter 5 gives an extensive overview of the patent race literature and shows that this literature is extremely complex, filled with contradictions, not robust to experimental testing and overall inconclusive. Chapter 6 sets out an experimental study of a patent race. It starts from an intuitive model of a sailing race, develops a game-theoretic model of an asymmetric R&D competition between two firms who want to attain a patent, formulates equilibrium predictions and compares them with the actions of real decision makers in an experimental laboratory. An econometric analysis proves a high degree of consistency between theoretical predictions and experimental results. The last chapter wraps up the main conclusions of the dissertation and proposes some recommendations.

Abstract The importance of investments in R&D was proved in several papers. These investments can influence innovative activity, which in turn, can spurs economic growth. Therefore, it was chosen to analyze the relation between amount of real expenditures of Structural funds of EU intended to R&D acitivities in CR and innovative activities, measured by number of submitted national patent applications by czech applicants in this diploma thesis. There are observed a direction of the impact, its approximate size and signifikance within several variations of models and chosen time lags. There is also compared the influence of real expenditures from EU funds and from czech resources. The results of this thesis shows, that there exists a positive relation between the two major variables, real expenditures from EU resources and number of submitted national patent applications in CR. It was also found out, that the size of the impact is not large, nonetheless, this impact was significant in a few cases. Results also confirm, that the impact of the expenditures is lagged by some time. Finally, the real expenditures of CR have the opposite direction of the impact and they are significant in all estimates.