Enhancing innovation quality through the involvement of external partners: An explorative analysis on the bio-pharmaceutical industry

Abstract

The work suggests a methodological framework to detect information about innovation practices and their effects in terms of innovation quality from patent data. In this explorative analysis on the bio-pharmaceutical industry, three innovation practices are investigated: internal development, R&D outsourcing and joint development. Four quality indicators are taken into account: novelty level, originality of the technological combination, technological acknowledgment and internal value. Moreover, the effect on exploitation vs. exploration strategies is evaluated. The framework is tested on a sample of 460 patents. Results show that the involvement of external partners enhances the technological acknowledgement of patented technologies. R&D outsourcing is employed to allow companies to specialize in their core technical field, whereas joint development is used to generate new knowledge architectures.