The Control and Generation of Technology in European Food and Beverage Multinationals

Using a sample of 59 major European food and beverage multinationals and their 8,432 subsidiaries worldwide, we study the characteristics and evolution over time of their inventions. In doing so, we analyse: i) 8,626 EPO applications filed by these companies between 1978 and 2005; ii) 3,650 US patents they applied for between 1978 and 2001; iii) more than 2,000 patent families of three different kinds; and iv) the location of their RD however, such companies do not display a geographical preference with regard to high value or technically complex innovations, which are generated at home and abroad and inside and outside the EU. From these findings we extract conclusions relevant to European R&D policy.