Patents as a measure for eco-innovation

Patents as a measure for eco-innovation

MEI is a project for DG Research of the European Commission (Call FP6-2005-SSP-5A, Area B, 1.6, Task 1) about measuring eco-innovation. The project is done in collaboration with Eurostat, the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission. MEI offers a conceptual clarification of eco-innovation (developing a typology) and discusses possible indi...

Patents as a Spur to Subsequent Innovation? Evidence from Pharmaceuticals

This paper examines how an incumbent’s patent protection acts as an implicit subsidy toward non-infringing substitutes. I analyze whether classes of pharmaceuticals whose first entrant has a longer period of market exclusivity (time between approval and generic entry) see more subsequent entry. Instrumenting for exclusivity using plausibly exogenous delays in the development process, I find tha...

Software Patents and Innovation

The European Commission has put software patents on its agenda. For the first time in Europe’s history a monopole will be granted by the State on immaterial ideas. The goal of this paper is to introduce the reader to the particular economics of the software sector and to compare the costs and benefits of a market with software patents against the actual situation. For this purpose we’ll explain...

Eco-Innovation as a New Sustainable Development Strategy: Case Studies

Sustainable development is one of the most debated issues, recently. In terms of providing more livable Earth continuity, while Production activities are going on, on the other hand protecting the environment has importance. As a strategy for sustainable development, eco-innovation is the application of innovations to reduce environmental burdens. Endeavors to understand ecoinnovation processes...

Financing Eco-innovation