Glossary
Activity index: A country’s (based on residence of the inventor) world share of patents within a particular technology area, divided by a country’s world share of all patents. The activity index is used to determine the propensity to patent within a particular technology area compared with other technology areas.
Affiliate: A company or business enterprise located in one country but owned or controlled (10% or more of voting securities or equivalent) by a parent company in another country; may be either incorporated or unincorporated.
Angel investment: Financing from affluent individuals for business startups, usually in exchange for ownership equity. Angel investors typically invest their own funds or organize themselves into networks or groups to share research and pool investment capital.
Asia-10: China (including Hong Kong), India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Basic research journals: Scientific journals covered by the Institute of Scientific Information that are classified as "basic scientific research," one of the four categories of a research level classification system for scientific journals developed by ipIQ, Inc. (formerly CHI). Journals assigned to the other three categories publish science at a research level that is applied, developmental, or more targeted, as defined by ipIQ.
Company or firm: A business entity that is either a single location with no subsidiary or branches or the topmost parent of a group of subsidiaries or branches.
EU-15: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.
EU-20: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.
EU-25: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.
Gross domestic product (GDP): The market value of all final goods and services produced within a country within a given period of time.
Gross revenues (sales): The value of the industry’s shipments or services, equivalent to the industry’s sales, including domestic and imported supplies and inputs from other industries.
Harmonized code, harmonized system (HS): Developed by the Customs Cooperation Council, the Harmonized System, or Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, is used to classify goods in international trade.
High-technology manufacturing industries: Those that spend a relatively high proportion of their revenue on R&D, consisting of aerospace, pharmaceuticals, computers and office machinery, communications equipment, and scientific (medical, precision, and optical) instruments.
Intellectual property: Intangible property resulting from creativity that is protected in the form of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets.
Intra-EU exports: Exports from EU countries to other EU countries.
Knowledge-intensive industries: Those that incorporate science, engineering, and technology into their services or the delivery of their services, consisting of business, communications, education, financial, and health services.
Market-oriented knowledge-intensive [services]: Knowledge-intensive services that are generally privately owned and compete in the marketplace without public support. These services are business, communications, and financial services.
Normalizing: To adjust to a norm or standard.
Not obvious: One criterion (along with "new" and "useful") by which an invention is judged to determine its patentability.
Productivity: The efficiency with which resources are employed within an economy or industry, measured as labor or multifactor productivity. Labor productivity is measured by GDP or output per unit of labor. Multifactor productivity is measured by GDP or output per combined unit of labor and capital.
Purchasing power parity (PPP): The exchange rate required to purchase an equivalent market basket of goods.
R&D intensity: The proportion of R&D expenditures to the number of technical people employed (e.g., scientists, engineers, and technicians) or the value of revenues.
Small business: A company or firm with less than 500 employees.
Triadic patent: A patent for which patent protection has been applied within the three major world markets: the United States, Europe, and Japan.
Utility patent: A type of patent issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office for inventions, including new and useful processes, machines, manufactured goods, or composition of matter.
Value added (value-added revenue): Gross revenue (sales) excluding purchases of domestic and imported inputs and materials.
