1. © Marc Isabelle 20041 They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation EPIP 3rd seminar Pisa, 02-03 April 2004 Marc ISABELLE IMRI (Université Paris Dauphine) & CEA

2. © Marc Isabelle 20042  Outline of the presentation They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation Impetus Background Results (intermediate…) Perspectives Conclusion

3. © Marc Isabelle 20043  Impetus What motivates inventors to invent? They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation “Motivations” private economic incentives others “Inventors” “Invent”…, patent & transfer of kn. and techs Are private economic incentives key motivations for researchers in the public sector to invent, patent & transfer knowledge & technologies? researchers in the public sector

4. © Marc Isabelle 20044  Background They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation Research project : Coupling between Scientific research & Technological research at CEA. What reality? What possible improvements? Phase I “Identification” Phase I I “Analysis” Phase I I I “Synthesis” Objectives = identifying… – where SR & TR are coupled within CEA – the models, mechanisms & obstacles of that coupling Means = interviews with 32 Research Directors

5. © Marc Isabelle 20045 Technological system Scientific system EnergyEnergy DefenceDefence NTIHNTIH Technological research Scientific research and SR-TR coupling  About CEA… They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation 2nd largest Public Research Organisation in France Multiple lines of demarcation (Dasgupta & David, 1994) Rise of the knowledge based economy CEA  Sustainability TR  Legitimacy SR  Dynamism SR & TR macro CEA A costs / benefits balance that can be very positive (Nelson, 2000) – NICT  matter sciences – biotechnologies  life sciences Coupling SR & TR: some costs and some benefits Coexistence and mix of scientific culture and technological culture

6. © Marc Isabelle 20046  Phase I ’s observations… They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation Research Directors consistently invent, patent and transfer ( number of patents / year: RDs >> CEA average > National PROs average ) Very weak private financial incentives at CEA for researchers who… Diversity of Research Directors’ research environments While… – invent & patent  1.000 € / patent – transfer knowledge & technologies= 0 % of licensing royalties * No Research Director works in an ivory tower (no Gibbons’ mode 1)

7. © Marc Isabelle 20047  Phase I ’s observations… They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation “Research Directors invent like they breathe”  inventiveness to a certain extent independent from private economic incentives (Henderson, Jaffe & Trajtenberg, 1998) Motivations to invent, patent & transfer depend on research environment  four identified “candidate” models at CEA and their analysis “Research Directors do not patent like they breathe”  cultural resistance (in scientific system) yet growing overall acceptance (Coutinho et al., 2003)

8. © Marc Isabelle 20048 They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation Inventions identified as a means of SR-TR coupling A generic taxonomy of SR-TR coupling  Inputs for Phase II: four “candidate” models of SR-TR coupling within CEA

9. © Marc Isabelle 20049 They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation Four “candidate” models (all in Gibbons’ mode 2)  Inputs for Phase II: four “candidate” models of SR-TR coupling within CEA (cont.)

10. © Marc Isabelle 200410 They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation Every research environment provides researchers with incentives to invent (not necessarily based on patents)  Motivations to invent, patent and transfer kn. & techs under each “candidate” model of SR-TR coupling

11. © Marc Isabelle 200411  Perspectives on knowledge & technology transfer policy: a principal-agent framework They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation A dominant model: –Technology Transfer Office in charge of managing patent applications as well as knowledge and technology transfers to industrial firms –Financial rewards for researchers whose (patented) inventions are transferred (  25-50 % of net licensing royalties) Impact of reward– inventiveness x – propensity to patent x – propensity to transfer ____________________ K & T transfer bottom line diluted (TTO’s responsibility) implicitly focal

12. © Marc Isabelle 200412  Perspectives on knowledge & technology transfer policy: a principal-agent framework They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation But… (provided that researchers actually invent like they breathe) (cont.) PRO (principal) Researcher (agent) Asymmetries of information  Incentives so that researcher behaves according to PRO’s objectives No monitoring of agent’s efforts to invent No monitoring of agent’s inventing results Wasteful incentives Efficient incentives

13. © Marc Isabelle 200413  Conclusion Very preliminary work They invent (not patent) like they breathe: what are their incentives to do so? Short tales and lessons from researchers in a public research organisation Still largely empirical and inductive  has to be consistently backed up with existing literature  biases to control for (32 RDs  all RDs  CEA  French PROs  PROs) Many questions… no definite answer  Phase II “Analysis” and Phase III “Synthesis” needed to consolidate and authenticate Phase I ’s results THANK YOU!