FV-90 The importance and Characteristics of Patent for Innovation in the Chemica-Pharmaceutical Industry

With this research project, we want to investigate the effects of intellectual property protection on the pace of innovation in Swiss pharmaceutical and related industries. More specifically, we are interested in finding out the impact of patents and their characteristics on the process of innovation in the respective parent industry as well as in other related technological fields and industries. The gained insights may help us to understand better (1) the conflicting positions among current stakeholders of the pharmaceutical industry regarding patent protection, R&D and innovation and (2) the alleged significance of the lack of patent protection for the emergence of the Swiss chemical-pharmaceutical industry at the end of the 19 th century.