The Ambivalence of the Local Practices of Patenting within the BioValley Network

Abstract

The production of novelty is more and more rooted in collective processes of interactions based on moving, heterogeneous networks involving new biotech firms, public research centers and big pharma companies. Patenting strategies have been investigated in a survey conducted within the BioValley network. While many firms do not consider patents as efficient in terms of protection, and often favor, for that purpose, secrecy, technological advance, trademark or complementary assets, the results imply that firms use patents as strategic tools devoted to different aims. One is to exclude rivals and create income from innovations. Another aim is that patents are seen as coordination tools, involved in the processes of diffusion and collective creation of knowledge, favoring interactions and facilitating the identification of potential partners.