Institutional Learning and Change Initiative

The following text is drawn from ISNAR (2003).

The principle behind patent analysis is that the technological performance of an R&D activity can be assessed by counting the number of patented products, processes or systems which results from the activity.

Problems with Patent Analysis

The primary problems with patent analysis are:

• It is dangerous to assume that patents are the sole output of research;
• Patents do not arise uniquely from a particular R&D project, nor is it an indication of failure if the project does not lead to a patentable result;
• Firms have variable properties to patent and these may change over time; and
• From the point of view of assessing the social and economic impacts of R&D, patent analysis provides no indication of whether the patented item is in use, who the users are, or how large the user group may be.

Patent analysis can be used as a partial indicator, when combined with other methods.
 

Source: ISNAR (2003) Monitoring, Evaluation, and Impact Assessment of R&D Investments in Agriculture, The Hague: International Service for National Agricultural Research.