Small worlds in networks of inventors and the role of science: An analysis of France
Using data on patent applications at European Patent Office, the structural properties of networks of inventors in France in different technologies are examined. Such properties are shown to depend, among others, on the inventive activity of scientists from universities and public research organizations (PROs). Earlier findings on small world properties of social networks of inventors are revisited, under more rigorous testing of the small world hypothesis. Academic and PRO inventors are found to contribute significantly to patenting in science-based fields, and to the emergence of small world properties.
Francesco Lissoni is Associate Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Brescia and a Senior Fellow of KITES, the centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies of Bocconi University (Milan) and invited professor at GREThA, the Groupe de Recherche en Économie Théoretique et Appliquée at the University of Bordeaux IV – Montesquieu. He received his PhD in Economics from the University of Manchester in 1997. His research activity covers the economics of innovation adoption, intellectual property rights and technology transfer, the economics of science, and the geography of knowledge diffusion. He is a member of the DRUID scientific committee and acts as chairman of the research programme on Academic Patenting in Europe, funded by the European Science Foundation.
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