Economics of innovation: IPR and competition law institutions

The introduction course in the Economics of Innovation (0SV30) introduced the Innovation Systems approach, explained how the (national/regional/sectoral) institutional environment plays an important role in innovative performance of firms, and provided a brief primer on the Intellectual Property Right system. The Economic Policy course (0SV60) already briefly pointed out the role of competition law.

In this course, we take a deeper dive into this institutional environment. We specifically focus on two important systems:

• The Intellectual Property Right system, which allows firms to obtain exclusive rights via patents, copyright and more.
• The regulatory environment, which offers possibilities but also sets restrictions to what firms are allowed to do, in terms of R&D as well as in terms of commercialization. Here, the course focuses on competition law and merger regulation.

By focusing on these two systems, this course bridges economic behaviour at the micro level (firm management) with the policy level perspective.

The course also trains students to apply this knowledge in the context of sustainable technologies. This involves conducting practical analyses utilizing patent data, as well as examining aspects of competition law and merger decisions. Tools and methodologies that can be used to carry out these analysis will be offered to the students.

After completion of the course, the student is able to:

• describe how economics of innovation are shaped by institutions.
• explain how the IPR system and competition law systems affect firm behaviour.
• apply the above knowledge in the context of sustainable technologies by carrying out empirical analyses that investigate how firms deploy strategies  and investigate the time and geography dimensions of IP protection on a global scale.

You must meet the following requirements

• Registered for a degree programme other than
• HBO-TOP Applied Physics, Pre-Master

• Selected chapters of an Open Access book published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The specific chapters to read are indicated in CANVAS
• Scientific journal articles as indicated in CANVAS (if any), available via the TU/e library
• Scientific journal articles as indicated in CANVAS (if any), available via the TU/e library
• Selected chapters of an open-access report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The specific chapters to read are indicated in CANVAS