Fellow SciBlogger Shaun Hendy is in the news with his interesting analysis of OECD patents. Our no 8 wire mentality might not be so spectacular after all.
Internationally, NZ is behind the curve for two reasons: low funding and a small population. Our R&D funding as a portion of GDP is well below the OECD average, though at this stage I am unclear what exactly the numbers are. Shaun? Also, more people, particularly if clustered in cities, tend to submit more patents – they are collectively more inventive.
Now in a perfect example of the benefits of science blogging, Shaun has complemented the MSM coverage with a blog post of his own comparing NZ to Australia. Complete with colourful data!
I am continually impressed by the analyses that he provides, and am confident they will be able to help inform science practice policies for the better. Go pay him a visit.
Thanks for the endorsement Daniel! In response to your question, our small IP portfolio reflects our low business expenditure on R&D – as a percentage of GDP it is about 0.5% compared to an OECD average of 1.5% and in absolute terms terms it’s even worse as our GDP has slipped well below the OECD average. There have been lots of reasons put forward for this but my analysis suggests that our low population density is a contributing factor. If you correct emprically for our low spending we actually look pretty good (I’ll be blogging on this soon).