The innovative strength of a society depends on the level of academic freedom the scholars of its institutions benefit from. An international team of researchers from Germany, Italy, the US and University of Luxembourg has now proven this relationship for the first time: they establish that academic freedom positively affects the number of patent applications and the number of forward citations.
The researchers analysed patent applications and patent citations in a sample from around 160 countries over the 1900-2015 period in relation to indicators used in the Academic Freedom Index. In view of the global decline in academic freedom over the past 10 years, the researchers predict a loss in innovative output.
In many countries, scientists have experienced a loss of academic freedom in recent years. This trend has come in for criticism on the basis of fundamental principles. However, there has been no research to date on whether the degree of academic freedom also has an impact on a society’s ability has to produce innovations.
"Academic freedom is associated with the capacity to develop new technologies, find solutions for challenges or bridge the gap between a discovery and a practical application. It is therefore strongly related to progress and prosperity", explains Christian Fisch , Associate professor in Business Economics and Entrepreneurship at the University’s Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT).
As indicators for the quantity and quality of innovations, the researchers used patent applications and citations. Their analysis covered the 1900-2015 period in 157 countries. The team analysed two large and respected datasets and put the results into relation: the V-Dem Dataset (Varieties of Democracy) from the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg encompasses various democracy indicators, some of which date back to 1789. They include freedom of science, which the institute, together with FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, has also presented in the Academic Freedom Index for several years. The team obtained data on numbers of patent applications and citations from the PATSTAT database from the European Patent Office.
Christian Fisch adds: "Luxembourg has a strong ambition to drive and nurture innovative activities. Our results underline the importance of safeguarding the country’s academic freedom to achieve its goals and help its young research environment reach develop its potential."
"Alarming signs for many countries"
The study shows that when the degree of academic freedom improves, this is followed by increases in the numbers of patent applications and, subsequently, in the number of patent citations.
However, the situation for academic freedom declined on a global scale during the period 2011-2021 for the first time in the last 100 years. This also applies to the group of 25 countries with the strongest science base. For that decade, the research team used the results of the study to calculate the impact of the decline. "We predict a global decline of 4-6% in innovative capability. In the leading countries, the figure is as high as 5-8%," says study author Paul Momtaz, Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance at TUM.
The results are cause fr worry because the trend can be observed not only in countries with dictatorships, but also increasingly in democratic states. "We see alarming signs across the globe of a general decline in academic freedom", expresses Christian Fisch. "In this crucial time, the study provides tangible evidence for the debate and for stakeholders engaged in science policy."
Numerous robustness checks confirm results
The researchers conducted several checks to confirm the robustness of the link between academic freedom and innovative output. For example they checked whether the correlation actually results from academic freedom in particular or from general freedom in a society. They also ruled out reverse causality, in other words the possibility of countries allowing more academic freedom when innovative output is too low. The results of the study were also confirmed when narrowing the perspective to countries with very high or very low numbers of patent applications, when only the post-1980 period was considered or when limiting the analysis to specific aspects of academic freedom.
Publication:
Audretsch DB, Fisch C, Franzoni C, Momtaz PP, Vismara S (2024) Academic freedom and innovation. PLoS ONE 19(6): e0304560. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304560
