A new approach to measuring invention commercialization: An application to the SBIR program

Carlo Bottai; Gaétan de Rassenfosse; Emilio Raiteri

doi:10.1016/j.respol.2025.105302

A new approach to measuring invention commercialization: An application to the SBIR program

Carlo Bottai
, Gaétan de Rassenfosse
, Emilio Raiteri (Corresponding author)

Technology, Innovation & Society

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

130 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Measuring the commercialization of patented inventions remains a key challenge in innovation studies. This paper introduces a novel, web-based method for tracking the commercialization of patented inventions. The method leverages targeted web searches to identify online traces of commercialization, offering a scalable alternative to surveys and case studies. We apply this method to patents arising from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Small Business Innovation Research program, linking 3070 patents to procurement contracts and assessing their commercialization outcomes. The results indicate that 21.5% of these patents show signs of commercialization, with variations across R&D stages and contract phases. The method provides a systematic way to identify market adoption of patented technologies and can be extended to other contexts where identifying commercialized patents is relevant.

Original language	English
Article number	105302
Number of pages	14
Journal	Research Policy
Volume	54
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2025.105302
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2025

Funding

We thank the EuroTech Universities Alliance for sponsoring this work. C.B. was supported by the European Union’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie program for the project Insights on the “Real Impact” of Science (H2020 MSCA-COFUND-2016 Action, Grant Agreement No 754462 ). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We are grateful to Scott Stern and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback. We thank the EuroTech Universities Alliance for sponsoring this work. C.B. was supported by the European Union's Marie Skłodowska-Curie program for the project Insights on the “Real Impact” of Science (H2020 MSCA-COFUND-2016 Action, Grant Agreement No 754462). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We are grateful to Scott Stern and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback.

Keywords

Government-funded research
Invention commercialization
Patents
Policy evaluation
Web-based evidence

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title = "A new approach to measuring invention commercialization: An application to the SBIR program",

abstract = "Measuring the commercialization of patented inventions remains a key challenge in innovation studies. This paper introduces a novel, web-based method for tracking the commercialization of patented inventions. The method leverages targeted web searches to identify online traces of commercialization, offering a scalable alternative to surveys and case studies. We apply this method to patents arising from the U.S. Department of Defense{\textquoteright}s Small Business Innovation Research program, linking 3070 patents to procurement contracts and assessing their commercialization outcomes. The results indicate that 21.5\% of these patents show signs of commercialization, with variations across R\&D stages and contract phases. The method provides a systematic way to identify market adoption of patented technologies and can be extended to other contexts where identifying commercialized patents is relevant.",

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AB - Measuring the commercialization of patented inventions remains a key challenge in innovation studies. This paper introduces a novel, web-based method for tracking the commercialization of patented inventions. The method leverages targeted web searches to identify online traces of commercialization, offering a scalable alternative to surveys and case studies. We apply this method to patents arising from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Small Business Innovation Research program, linking 3070 patents to procurement contracts and assessing their commercialization outcomes. The results indicate that 21.5% of these patents show signs of commercialization, with variations across R&D stages and contract phases. The method provides a systematic way to identify market adoption of patented technologies and can be extended to other contexts where identifying commercialized patents is relevant.

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A new approach to measuring invention commercialization: An application to the SBIR program

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