Exploring complexity in the relationship between entrepreneurial knowledge exploration and exploitation: Individual assigned patents in Ireland, 1976-2009

Evidence for a positive relationship between investment in knowledge creation and performance is well-documented for nations (Guellec and van Pottlesberghe 2004) and for organisations (Damanpour and Evan 1984). Less well researched is the role of individuals in the innovation process specifically the knowledge generation and commercialization process. Studies incorporating individuals, have typically positioned them as a distinct tier in knowledge flows, comprising individuals, groups and organisations (Kamhawi 2010). However, implicit to these studies is the assumption that individuals are embedded in organisations. In this paper we examine a largely neglected area of knowledge creation, namely patents that are both invented and assigned to individuals. These patents tend to be excluded from studies of knowledge creation as the organisational context is ambiguous and therefore it is virtually impossible to integrate this information with other data sources on business activity and performance. Yet, as is the case in Ireland, patents created by and assigned to individuals account for a significant proportion of total patents (c. 10 per cent). This knowledge represents substantial novel technology with the potential to be exploited commercially. However, in the absence of an appropriate environment for the exploitation of the technology, the return on the technology may be lost. Based on a survey of all individuals being awarded a European and/or US patent between 1976 and 2009, amounting to 666 patents, the paper analyses the individual and organisational context of patents that are invented and assigned to individuals as opposed to private or public sector organisations. We explore the extent to which individual patents are commercialised and the various routes to commercialization taken, including intrapreneurship and licensing. Our findings contribute to the literature on entrepreneurial learning and the relationship between exploration and exploitation both within and across organisational boundaries. Our results are of interest to policy makers in identifying the extent to which novel technology created by and assigned to individuals is, or is not, exploited and the relationship between the environment for knowledge exploration and subsequent exploitation.