The assessment of patent activity and the discriminant ability of its determinants

• Published in: Scientific Papers of Silesian University of Technology. Organization and Management Series 2024, Vol.2024 (202), p.523-534
• Main Author: Strzelecka, Agnieszka
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1641-3466
• DOI: 10.29119/1641-3466.2024.202.32

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to apply the discriminant analysis to assess the separation ability of determinants affecting the patent activity. Design/methodology/approach: This paper applies the method of discriminant analysis to track the influence rate of the most often used factors affecting the patent analysis. The research was conducted for the European Union member states and Switzerland on the basis of the data from 2022 and the Eurostat basis. Findings: The conducted research showed that the decision makers, wanting to increase the patent activity, have to, at first, pay attention to the level of economic growth, i.e. the factor mainly affecting the amount of expenses on R&D. However, it should be remembered that also human resources, including the research ones, play an important role in achieving high level of innovativeness. They are the main players while drawing up and implementing innovations. The influence of human resource is lower, indeed, it is very important. Contrary to Luxembourg, Finland, Sweden, Denmark or the Netherlands, the number of patents reported to EPO is very small in Poland (607 in 2022 or 671 in 2023). Indeed, it is a big growth because of about 10% but the number of patents per one million of professionally active people is not high - 11.5% EU, about 3.9% Scandinavian countries. In comparison to the countries with low GDP index, such as Greece or the Czech Republic, the patent activity of Poland is not high (86% of patents in Greece and 81% in the Czech Republic). Thus, the situation of our country is not advantageous, in comparison to the majority of the EU member states. Research limitations/implications: It is necessary to include more determinants specifying the efficiency of innovativeness in the future research. The availability of data limited the years of analysis. One source of data was used to provide the reliability of analyses. Practical implications: Focusing on the main factors affecting the patent activity may increase the companies competitiveness and it contributes to the competitiveness of the whole economy. The increase in the patent activity contributes to the achievement of a more competitive position in the market. Originality/value: The performance of the analysis of the measurable effects of innovation policy in Poland in comparison to other countries will make it possible to indicate on which countries and determinants the attention should be paid to improve the innovation activity. Keyw