This paper analyzes the association between the number of patenting manufacturing firms and the quantity and quality of relevant university research across UK postcode areas. Our results indicate that different measures of research ‘power’ and ‘excellence’ positively affect the patenting...

We survey the economic literature, both theoretical and empirical, on the choice of intellectual property protection by firms. Our focus is on the tradeoffs between using patents and disclosing versus the use of secrecy, although we also look briefly at the use of other means of formal...

This paper provides an overview of a new database that contains intellectual property data - in the form of patents and trademarks - for the population of firms registered in the UK.  The paper discusses the principal challenges involved in the construction of this integrated database and...

This article analyses the growth rates of the complete population of UK-registered firms for the period 2001 to 2005. We estimate Gibrat's law - that growth rates are independent of firm size - by deciles of the firm size distribution. Whether we are able to reject Gibrat's law varies across...

This paper analyses the association between the number of patenting manufacturing firms and the quantity and quality of relevant university research across UK postcode areas. We show that different measures of research `power' and `excellence' positively affect the patenting of small firms...

Abstract Using data on all high- and medium-tech start-ups in the UK in 2000, this paper assesses the effect associated with a firm's decision to patent on a firm's subsequent growth between 2001 and 2005. We propose a new approach to addressing well known issues challenging identification of...

This paper analyses the association between the number of patenting manufacturing firms and the quantity and quality of relevant university research across UK postcode areas. We show that different measures of research `power' and `excellence' positively affect the patenting of small firms...

We survey the economic literature, both theoretical and empirical, on the choice of intellectual property protection by firms. Our focus is on the trade-offs between using patents and disclosing versus the use of secrecy, although we also look briefly at the use of other means of formal...

A surprisingly small number of innovative firms use the patent system. In the UK, the share of firms patenting among those reporting that they have innovated is about 4%. Survey data from the same firms support the idea that they do not consider patents or other forms of registered IP as...