Assessing the Influence ERC-funded Research Patented Inventions.

The objective of this study is to identify and analyse the patents that can be linked to ERC-funded projects (through citations to the publications generated by such projects) and subsequently classify them in large technology areas. Following consolidated approaches in the economics of innovation literature, we worked on two different indicators of knowledge development: scientific publications and patents. The simple intuition is to measure if, how and to what extent the new discoveries presented by ERC grantees in scientific publications inspired new technologies described in new patents. We used the publications cited in the non-patent literature (NPL) section of patents applications to trace this influence. A complementary set of analyses were also performed for patents reported at the ERC Executive Agency by the Principal Investigators (PIs) as a direct outcome of the ERC project (that we label “self-reported” patents).