Swedish business research productivity – improvements against international trends

We use a comprehensive database of Swedish manufacturing and service firms to examine trends in aggregate and sectoral research productivity 1985-1998, defined as the ratio between patenting and R&D. Quality indices are composed of forward and backward citations, family size and opposition. In contrast to earlier studies, forward citations to have the highest weight in our indices. Sweden experienced increases in research productivity over the period 1985-1998, a period where Swedish R&D was rising fast. Overall patenting and associated quality have had strong developments as compared to US and European findings of falling research productivity.