Patent Acquisitions in the Healthcare Industry: An Analysis of Learning Mechanisms

The healthcare industry at large is used as a case study to suggest a methodological technique for evaluating patent citation networks to analyze cross-country creativity/knowledge flows. It intends to provide insight on the following research issues: (a) how to examine cross-national creative/learning flows; and (b) have nations with present patent owners profited from patent acquisitions? The research field at hand is currently under-explored, justifying the motivation for conducting this investigation, even though it has economic relevance in innovation patterns worldwide. The analysis of over 14,023 firms has shown that: (a) owners have acquired patents across borders, and (b) acquired patents (granted between 2013 and 2017) are cited by later patents (2018–2022). The methodology and findings are transferable to other industries. They can be used by managers and policymakers to (a) assist businesses in predicting innovation trajectories and (b) assist governments in designing and putting into action more effective policies that foster patented innovations in sectors that are deemed to be relevant to the national interest, thanks to the adoption of a new, complementary theoretical viewpoint that merges the micro- and macro-economic perspectives of citation flows.