Patents and Other Intellectual Property Rights

Many academic papers enforce the idea that in­novation is a key driver for economic growth. The creation, dissemination and application of knowl­edge have become a major engine of economic expansion, especially for developing countries.

Bilbao-Osorio and Rodriguez-Pose (2004), in the study regarding R&D in the European Union, show that results of R&D investment is positively associated with innovation, as a key factor for local and national development.

There are several statistical indicators describ­ing the situation of innovation in EEE and Arab countries.

1.5.1. Patent Applications to the European Patent Office

Data refer to applications filed directly under the European Patent Convention or to applications filed under the Patent Co-operation Treaty and designated to the EPO (Euro-PCT). Patent applica­tions are counted according to the year in which they were filed at the EPO and are broken down according to the International Patent Classification (IPC). They are also broken down according to the inventor’s place of residence, using fractional counting if multiple inventors or IPC classes are provided to avoid double counting.

The most innovative country is Bulgaria, fol­lowed by Slovakia. A pertinent conclusion though can only be drawn after we correlate with the rate of success of the patent applications.

For the Arab countries, the data available through the World Bank are aggregated in an indicator pointing to the number of patent appli­cations. These latter are filed through the Patent Cooperation Treaty procedure or with a national patent office for exclusive rights for an invention, a product or process that provides a new technical solution to a problem.

1.5.2. European High- Technology Patents

The data refer to the ratio of patent applications made directly to the European Patent Office (EPO) or via the Patent Cooperation Treaty and designating the EPO (Euro-PCT), in the field of high-technology patents per million inhabitants of a country. The definition of high-technology patents uses specific subclasses of the Interna­tional Patent Classification (IPC) as defined in the trilateral statistical report of the EPO, JPO, and USPTO.

1.6.