A trend of international collaborations between inventers

Abstract

The article analyses data on the international collaborations between inventors from different countries, obtained from a special research completed by the European Commission focusing on the national patent portfolios of European Union countries, countries included in the European Association of Free Trade, countries of North America and Asia.
It is noted that learning diffusions and matching of technological solutions are becoming an independent trend of the economics science as it allows to determine the patterns and conditions for achieving technological leadership of companies as well as the whole regions in the world. The current research focuses on the balance between an open exchange of industrially applicable expertise and limitations of the diffusion of technological competencies as a necessary condition for achieving leadership in the markets of highly technological products and services.
The article concludes stating that the growth of «hybrid» and «external» patents in various regions of the world, determined by European Commission is, most likely, related to the growth of academic mobility of owners of the unique engineering and research teams, and not due to globalisation and internalisation of industrially applicable expertise, that is always used as a tool for competitive fight for markets of products with a high added value.