Innovación Tecnológica en Empresas Chilenas: Un Estudio Empírico Basado en Patentes

Abstract

Technological Innovation in Chilean Firms: An Empirical Study Based on Patents

Literature has focused on studying patents in particular industries, subsectors or firms, mainly in developed countries. The level or quantity of patents in Chile during the period 2007-2012 on average reached 12 triadic families, while in countries like Argentina and Mexico presented averages of 12 and 15 respectively. The overall average for the same period amounted to 48,242 OECD triadic patent families. This shows the interest of the scientific community to study the phenomenon of patent creation, and, on the other hand, the large technological gap between developed and developing countries. We propose to study the determinants of patenting in Chilean firms, as a case of a developing country. We use a probit model where the dependent variable takes value one if the firm has or is in the process of obtaining an invention patent (technological) and zero if not. Our database has 4,338 Chilean firms, is cross-sectional and corresponds to an extract of the Eighth Survey of Innovation in Firms 2011-2012. The results show that the age of the firm, the base of existing knowledge, and the use of governmental instruments to support R&D have a positive effect on creation of patents.