Los determinantes institucionales de las patentes del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas: Una aproximación histórica y una dialéctica con la economía

Abstract

To date, normative studies on the generation of public patents have focused on universities. This paper extends the analysis to public research organisations (PRO). From both a historic and economic standpoint, and via the interpretation of three institutional factors (the change in the political and legal background, the dominance of certain areas of science over others, and the increase in technological cooperation), the reasons moving the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científi cas (CSIC; the Spanish Research Council) to file patents were examined. The impact of these quantified factors on patenting was examined from 1987 to the present. The institutional framework of bodies such as the CSIC was found to favour a patenting culture. The historical approach adopted defined homogeneous analytical periods and guided the interpretation of the results and their effects over time, while the economic approach allowed some of the relationships seen to be quantified and questioned the validity of merely descriptive classifications (e.g., scientific areas according to number of patents).