CEPR – RIETI Joint Workshop on “Science and Innovation”

Please find the event's slides here.

Session 1 (10.00 – 11.30)

10.00 – 10.15                      Opening remarks: Atsushi NAKAJIMA (Chairman, RIETI); Richard BALDWIN (President, CEPR and Graduate Institute, Geneva) and Jagjit CHADHA (Director, NIESR)

10.15 – 10.45                      Presentation: "Use of Grace Period and its Impact on Knowledge Spillover: Evidence from Japan"
Presenter: Sadao NAGAOKA (RIETI)

10.45 – 11.00                      Response: Alfonso GAMBARDELLA (Università Bocconi and CEPR)

11.00 – 11.30                      General Discussion

11.30 – 11.45                      Coffee

Session 2 (11.45 – 13.00)

11.45 – 12.15                      Presentation: "Measuring Science Intensity of Industry Using Linked Dataset of Science, Technology and industry"
Presenters: Kenta IKEUCHI (RIETI)

12.15 – 12.30                      Response: Dietmar HARHOFF (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and CEPR)

12.30 – 13.00                      General Discussion

13.00 – 14.30                      Lunch

Session 3 (14.30 – 15.45)

14.30 – 15.00                      Presentation: "The Impact of Entrepreneurial Human Capital on Initial Funding: Evidence from Japan"
Presenter: Yuji HONJO (Chuo University)

15.00 – 15.15                      Response: Mark SCHANKERMAN (London School of Economics and CEPR)

15.15 – 15.45                      General Discussion

15.45 – 16.00                      Coffee

Session 4 (16.00 – 17.30)

16.00 – 17.15                      Panel Discussion

Panellists: Richard BALDWIN (President, CEPR and Graduate Institute, Geneva), Atsushi NAKAJIMA (Chairman, RIETI), Jagjit CHADHA (Director, NIESR) and Roger FARMER (UCLA, CEPR and NIESR)

17.15 – 17.30                      Concluding Remarks

To Register: You are encouraged to register your interest in participating at your earliest convenience as spaces will be limited. Confirmation of successful registration will be sent to you as soon as possible. Please contact CEPR organising team shewett [at] cepr.org (subject: Register%20for%20M6726) (here)

Abstracts

"Use of Grace Period and Its Impact on Knowledge Spillover: Evidence from Japan"

This paper analyzes what determines the use of the grace period as well as its impact on knowledge spillover, based on a large-scale panel data of the use of the grace period as well as a survey on inventors in Japan. If the motivation for using the grace period is to have a patent for a scientific disclosure which had been disclosed anyhow (due to high priority on academic competition or due to inadvertent disclosure), the main effect of grace period is the promotion of patenting. On the other hand, if the motivation for using the grace period is to have early disclosure of a discovery without destroying its novelty in patenting process, the main effect of grace period is to accelerate disclosure. We use the following two policy changes to identify these two views: the domestic reform which removed the risk of the applicant’s disclosure barring its subsequent patent application as well as the PCT reform allowing automatic designation of all contracting states. We find that both of them significantly affected the use of the grace period (the first reform led to more use and the second reform to less use) by both the inventors of large firms and academic inventors. Furthermore, the grace period is more used by patent applications with a smaller number of claims, controlling for the other patent attributes. This evidence reveals that the grace period does promote the knowledge spillover.

“Measuring Science Intensity of Industry Using Linked Dataset of Science, Technology and Industry"

This paper presents new indicators measuring the science intensity of industry in Japan, linking a scientific paper database (science), patent information (technology), and economic census data (industry). The new indicators reflect the interaction between science and industry, via academic patenting activities, which cannot be measured by an existing indicator of science linkage: non-patent literature (NPL) citations by patents. As the academic sector gets more involved in patenting activities, its scientific knowledge is being utilized by industries that are not categorized as science-based. Additionally, it was revealed that scientific knowledge has been increasingly used for industrial innovation over the last 10 years across all academic disciplines. Our study reiterates that public support of science is essential for industrial innovation.

"The impact of entrepreneurial human capital on initial funding: Evidence from Japan "

This study explores how start-up firms raise capital at founding. Using a data set of firms founded in the manufacturing and information and communications technology sectors of Japan during the period of 2003--2010, we examine whether entrepreneurial human capital, such as prior technological experience, affects the capital structure of start-up firms. We provide evidence that some entrepreneur-specific characteristics significantly affect initial funding. The results reveal that start-up firms managed by entrepreneurs with prior technological experience are more likely to rely on equity financing, suggesting that specific human capital exerts influence on debt and equity balance. Moreover, we find that start-up firms managed by entrepreneurs with university education and older entrepreneurs are more likely to have large capital, although such human capital is less associated with debt and equity balance. Furthermore, we find that start-up firms located in entrepreneurs' hometowns are more likely to rely on debt financing.