The inventive spill-over of corporate publications

This paper looks at how scientific collaboration linking universities and large international firms fosters
local invention. The first step aims at identifying the universities engaged in collaboration with large corporate
entities belonging to the industrial sectors of pharmaceuticals, chemicals and biotechnology. After having
identified the corpus of corporate publications authored by these enterprises we analyse in this corpus the
universities engaged in this corporate scientific collaboration allocating the co-authoring institutions in the
territories hosting the academic authors. The extent and nature of the universities’ collaboration with large firms
is then analysed using the SAR model in regard to the intensity of local inventive intensity in the metropolitan
area hosting the universities. The results show that corporate publications have a clear and significant effect on
inventive outcome and production.