The Swedish National Innovation System 1970-2003 - Vinnova

7 Technological Performance
The Swedish national innovation system has during
the entire period 1970–2003 been among the leading
countries in the OECD in terms of generating
technological inventions, measured as international
patenting in relation to population size. Swedish
international patenting of new technology has risen
considerably in recent decades, in total and across
all high-technology and medium high-technology
fields. Apart from the USA, Japan, Germany and
Switzerland, Sweden has a higher level of patenting
in relation to population size than any other country
within most technology areas. A major reason for
the strong Swedish position is that Sweden has the
largest concentration of R&D-intensive industrial
groups in the world. Also the industrial groups in
medium-sized low-technology industries are relatively
R&D-intensive and technologically competitive.
Multinational R&D-intensive industrial groups in
Sweden dominate Swedish international patenting,
while independent SMEs patent very little outside
Sweden and university researchers or R&D institutes
even less.
Total international technology patenting
Technological performance is fundamental to innovation
processes and is here understood as inventions, in a
broad sense, i.e. ideas and results that are possible to
commercialise and exploit in different kinds of production.
Technological competitiveness is here measured in
terms of different countries’ patenting in the USA. 26
Throughout the period studied Sweden has been
highly competitive in terms of patenting in the USA
and was ranked fourth in the world in 2001. Swedish
patenting in the USA rose rapidly during the second half
of the 1990s, from a level that was already relatively high
by international standards. Other countries with high
patenting in the USA have shown a similar trend, albeit
not as pronounced, figure 7.1.
In terms of triadic patenting, i.e. patents assigned in
the three patenting areas USA, EU and Japan, statistics
show that Sweden is even more competitive. Only
Switzerland reports a higher rate of triadic patenting
than Sweden. As in the case with US-patenting,
Swedish triadic patenting rose rapidly in the latter half
of the 1990s.
Sectoral patenting performance
Swedish technological competitiveness is particularly
strong in telecommunications. However, the most
significant characteristic of the Swedish technological
strength is its breadth. Sweden is highly competitive
technologically in most high-technology and medium
high-technology fields. This is a reflection of the breadth
of the Swedish manufacturing industry across almost
all the high-technology and medium high-technology
industries. These industries are all dominated by large
multinational groups with a strong R&D base in
Sweden, figure 7.2.
Apart from the USA, Japan, Germany and
Switzerland, Sweden has a higher level of patenting in
relation to its population size than any other country
within most technology areas. However, compared to
the major patenting countries in the world, the USA 27
and Japan, the level of Swedish patenting is rather low
in most high-technology and medium high-technology
fields.
Patenting organisations
A major reason for Sweden’s high technological
competitiveness in terms of international patenting
is the large share and dominating role played by large
multinational and R&D-intensive industrial groups
within the Swedish national innovation system.
Companies that accounted for particularly
substantial patenting activities in the USA included the
Swedish parts of Ericsson, AstraZeneca and Pharmacia
Upjohn in the telecommunication and pharmaceuticals
sectors. ABB and a number of other industrial groups
with considerable R&D presence in Sweden also
increased their patenting substantially in the latter half
of the 1990s. The sharp rise in patenting activities by
these industrial groups contributed to most of the rapid
increase in Swedish patenting in the USA noted in the
second half of the 1990s. Large multinational groups,
with a strong R&D base in Sweden, dominate Swedish
patenting in the USA, accounting for about 70 per cent
of all patents in 2001, figure 7.3.
SMEs represent only a very small proportion of
overall Swedish international patenting. Moreover, a
majority of the patenting SMEs are firms belonging
to large multinational groups. Patents by individual
entrepreneurs, R&D institutes or special organisations
patenting inventions from the research system account
for only a minor proportion of Swedish international
patenting.
26 THE SWEDISH NATIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEM 1970–2003