In search of a unifying measurement feature on which to base a more systematic and potentially comprehensive analysis of intangibles, this paper first analyses the economic and accounting properties of intangibles, and second, empirically evaluates managerial practices for measuring and...

Evidence suggests that patents facilitate technology transactions but the reasons for the effect are unclear. Patents may assist trade in technology by either: (i) protecting buyers against the expropriation of the idea (the ‘appropriation effect’); or (ii) increasing information sharing...

There is a common, largely anecdotally-based belief that registered intellectual property is a less efficient form of protection for SME inventors compared with inventors from large firms. This paper discusses the reasons why SMEs may be disadvantaged in their use of intellectual property as...

There is no shortage of dialogues and commentaries extolling the need for more innovation to regenerate sagging national productivity growth. However, hard evidence on whether or not innovation makes a difference is largely absent because most firm-level studies are drawn from cross-sectional...

Innovation represents the downstream embodiment of knowledge. It is the concrete application of knowledge to enhance our material well-being. However, knowledge and innovation are fuzzy, intangible concepts with ill-defined borders. We know that its quality matters but our difficulty in research...

As with most of my contemporaries, I sit and push buttons, read from a screen, talk to people and make black marks on a page all day at work, yet somehow I contribute to an economy that provides goods, services and life comforts that are beyond the imagination of even my more recent ancestors. I...

This paper reports on the construction of a new database – called TM-Link – that contains 12 million trade mark applications and registrations across six jurisdictions – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. A new feature of the...

The Review of Research Policy and Funding Arrangements 2015 (the ‘Watt Review’), presents a well considered commentary and recommendations for how the Commonwealth Government should fund university research in coming years. What is clear from the report – and has been known by insiders for...

Innovation — the introduction of new-to-the-firm or new-to-the-world products and methods of production — is a necessary requirement for ongoing competition. Without innovation, other types of competitive action — advertising, training or price cutting — are subject to diminishing...

This paper presents the main findings from a small qualitative survey of the main factors associated with the creation and usage of five industrial capabilities in leading Victorian sectors. The capabilities included advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT), design, information and...