Globalization and growth of US university patenting (2009–2014)

Journal article, 2016

We disaggregate the recent growth in university patenting in the US in terms of nations and patent classes. Foreign patenting in the USPTO has almost doubled during the period 2009-2014. This is mainly due to patenting by universities in Taiwan, Korea, China, and Japan. These nations compete with the US in terms of patent portfolios, whereas most European countries—with the exception of the UK—have more specific portfolios, mainly in the bio-medical fields. In the case of China, Tsinghua University holds 63% of the university patents in USPTO, followed by the King Fahd University with 55.2% of the national portfolio. This competition in terms of US patents has become increasingly globalized.