Are Patent Subsidies for SMEs Effective? Empirical evidence from Italy

Several policy actions based on public subsidies have been launched over the last decade in a wide variety of countries in order to foster patent activities by SMEs. In spite of a rich literature addressing the rationale and effectiveness of R&D subsidies programs, no attention has been devoted yet to the mapping and assessment of patent subsidies policies. We intend to fill this gap by analyzing a major patent subsidy measure in Norhtern Italy. Empirically, we compare the quality of a sample of 136 subsidized patents with a matched-paired sample of (non-subsidized) patents.