Corporate Invention Board

The Corporate Invention Board project uses the Patstat database (October 2008 edition) produced by the European Patent Office (EPO)

This database currently constitutes the reference for the calculation of patent indicators, both in the academic world and for public policy makers. It is, among others, used by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for the production of technology indicators.

The Patstat database records patent applications published by national patent offices. It covers 80 national and regional/international patent offices: at international level, we can cite the Worldwide Industrial Patent Office (WIPO), at regional level, the European Patent Office (EPO), and at national levels the offices of the following countries: The USA, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, China, India, Japan, Korea… Because of this international coverage, Patstat can be considered as a worldwide patent database.

In addition to the titles and summaries of the patents, Patstat contains information such as patent registration and publication dates, names and addresses of assignees and inventors, international patent classification codes, citations, patent extensions and maintenance.

For the Corporate Board Invention project, some inventors’ addresses have been supplemented with information from the OECD Regpat database.

To define groups and to identify their subsidiaries, the Corporate Invention Board project uses the Orbis financial database developed by Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing (BVDEP). It compiles financial information on nearly 60 million companies.

Among the multiple information proposed by Orbis, the Corporate Invention Board project uses more particularly those related to the shareholders, the subsidiaries, the industrial sectors and the location of the companies.