A new study using RISIS data investigates the factors shaping university patenting and joint innovation with companies.
What makes universities more likely to patent their research, and what drives them to develop joint patents with companies? A study by Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz, published in The Journal of Technology Transfer, explores these questions by examining more than 400 European universities across 17 countries between 2011 and 2018.
The article, “The determinants of European universities patenting and co-patenting with companies”, investigates how institutional characteristics, research orientation and funding structures influence universities’ patenting activity and their collaboration with industry.
The findings highlight four key factors: university size, institutional age, research orientation and funding structure. However, the determinants of patenting do not necessarily operate in the same way as those of joint university-company patenting.
For example, larger universities are more likely to initiate co-patenting with companies, even though joint patents account for a smaller share of their overall patenting activity. Funding also matters: higher levels of core and third-party funding are associated with a greater likelihood of engaging in patenting with companies, although their relationship with the proportion of joint patents among already active institutions is more complex.
These results underline an important distinction for research and innovation policy: encouraging universities to start collaborating with industry may require different measures from those aimed at strengthening existing partnerships. Policies supporting technology transfer should therefore account for institutional differences and the specific conditions that enable university-industry collaboration.
The contribution of RISIS data
The study demonstrates the value of integrating complementary research infrastructure resources. It combines data from the RISIS European Tertiary Education Register (ETER), which provides information on higher education institutions; RISIS Patent, which captures university patenting and joint patents with companies; and OrgReg, which supplies publication-related data.
By linking institutional characteristics, scientific output and patenting activity, these resources enable a comparative analysis of the drivers of academic knowledge commercialisation across Europe.
The research illustrates how RISIS datasets can support evidence-based policymaking and deepen our understanding of the relationships between universities, industry and innovation.
Publication
Wolszczak-Derlacz, J. (2025). The determinants of European universities patenting and co-patenting with companies. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 50, 620–636. First published online on 4 July 2024.
