USES AND ABUSES OF PATENT STATISTICS

Summary Advances in information technology have increased the actual and potential uses of patent statistics as a proxy measure of inventive and innovative activities. Analytical contributions have come out of economics, bibliometrics, and descriptive comparisons for policy purposes. They show achievement and promise in describing and explaining1 international patterns of technological activity and their effects on the economic performance2 the volume, sectoral pattern, geographical location and dynamics of technological activity in specific firms, and their effects on competitive performance3 links between science and technology.

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