A history of collaboration in US invention: changing patterns of co-invention, complexity and geography

Journal article

0960-6491 (Print) 1464-3650 (Online)

Research suggests that increasing collaboration in knowledge production is explained by rising complexity of knowledge. Yet, there is little long-run, systematic, empirical evidence on the relationship between complexity and collaboration. A new database is introduced that identifies all (co-)inventors on more than 3 million US patents between 1836 and 1975. Empirical analysis reveals (i) collaboration on US patents began to increase in the 1940s; (ii) there is a robust positive relationship between complexity and collaboration; and (iii) increasing complexity is associated with local rather than nonlocal collaboration.

Industrial and Corporate Change INCC 2020, 29(3), 599-619

Oxford, UK : Oxford University Press, 2020.

English

https://academic.oup.com/pages/using-the-content/citation

External Online Journals > Industrial and Corporate Change