Academic Patenting in Belgium:Methodology and Evidence.

Universities are increasingly being called upon to contribute to economic development and competitiveness. This Study aims to assess contribution of academic scientists working at universities located in the French-speaking Community of Belgium to patented technology. Matching names of academic scientists to inventors listed on patent applications filed at the EPO between 1994-2007, we find that 9-12% of academics working in science are inventors, among them 23% are woman. Academic scientists are listed as inventors on 6.5% of the EPO patent applications filed by résidents of the French-speaking Community of Belgium. Universities are applicants on only 33.3% of patents invented by their scientists but this share has increased significantly in recent years. These results are then compared with similar trends in other European countries and in the United States.