In search of performance effects of (in)direct industry science links

Using patent data from the European Patent Office combined with firm-level data, we evaluate the contribution of science linkages to the innovation performance of a firm at the patent level. We examine the effect of (i) firm-level linkages to science (firms active in publication and co-publication), and (ii) invention-specific linkages (patents with citations to scientific publications) on patent quality measures. Our results suggest that citations to scientific publications are not significant in explaining forward citations but are positively related to the scope of forward citations. Our main finding is that the linkage to science at the firm level matters more for forward citations than the linkage at the invention/patent level. In particular, nonscience-related patents of firms with firm level scientific linkages are more frequently, more broadly, and more quickly cited than comparable patents of firms without these science linkages.