An Empirically Based Research Method for Identification and Measurement Using Patent Data

This paper deals with methodological issues of assessing the composition and level of heterogeneity of firms’ intellectual assets. It develops an original metric - referred to as the H-index - for measuring heterogeneity using data extracted from patent documents. The main purpose is to improve the characterisation of research activities within firms in the biotechnology sector. Although the H-index grew out of research on biotech firms, the metric carries broader relevance for all patent-intensive industries. The measurement and calculation of the H-index is illustrated using some empirical examples from our preliminary study on Scandinavian biotech firms