CREST 8: California’s Inventive Activity: Patent Indicators of Quantity, Quality, and Organizational Origins

This paper, part of a series prepared for the California Report on the Environment for Science and Technology (CREST), examines the number of patents granted, number of citations to these patents, and number of university and firm assignees listed on the patents from 1980 through 1996-1998 (depending on data availability). The report describes trends in patenting activity, patent quality, and the changing roles that businesses and universities play in patenting activity.

The first comprehensive assessment of the state’s science and technology indicators, CREST draws on extensive research and analysis and offers recommendations for how industry leaders, academic planners, and state policy makers can respond more effectively to a high-tech economy. CREST addresses the absence of a regularly executed strategic planning process for the California economy by providing essential information upon which strategic and tactical decisions can be based.