The Evolutionary Game Analysis and Optimization Algorithm of Electric Vehicle Cell Innovation Diffusion Based on a Patent Pool Strategy

A patent pool strategy was proposed for use in the electric vehicle cell industry to manage patent licensing disputes and litigation. How to promote EV cell innovation diffusion under a patent pool scenario is unclear. We introduced an innovation diffusion channel model comprising different players with patent licensing relationships and market competition relationships following evolutionary game analysis and simulation. We found the interlinked factors that influenced evolutionary stable strategies with a sensitivity test on all factors to identify the important and unimportant factors. To achieve the maximum return for the players, an optimization algorithm was introduced to find the maximum weighted object function. The decision and policy makers could focus on important factors such as improving the technology’s competitive advantages, delivering more profits to its licensees with reasonable licensing fees, and finding the best patent pool strategy with the support of the optimization algorithm to balance the competition relationships and patent licensing relationships between players.

Development of the Theory and Practice of Higher Education Innovatics

Most of the innovative changes in higher education in relation to academic capitalism are based on market principles. The aim of the article is to further study and determine the innovative directions of the reform of higher education. For this, it is necessary to create and implement a scientific and applied system that combines theoretical and practical approaches to the innovative development of higher education. The authors propose the further development of a new scientific direction in the field of higher education - “innovatics of higher education”. Theoretical foundations and practical issues of higher education innovatics include innovative changes in a number of activities. The main of these activities are: teaching, training and study; R&D, engineering, IT and technologies development, projects activity and design creativity; financial and economic support of the educational process, R&D, activities development and business expanses; inventive and patent-licensing activities, technology transfer, academic/university entrepreneurship; cultural and moral development, upbringing of cultural, moral and human values; sports, recreational, festive and extracurricular activities including other types of universities activities. Thus, innovatics of higher education includes innovative changes in almost all areas of higher education to enhance the quality training of professionals and responsible citizens of the modern community. More over innovations can guarantee financial independence, economic stability and competitiveness for a university development. This will be useful both for reforming the higher education systems and for universities R&D in Ukraine and other countries.

Product design and pricing strategies in a closed-loop supply chain with patent protection

PurposeThis paper aims to propose a two-period model in which an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) decides the remanufacturability level of products in product design and unit patent licensing fee at the first period, and a third-party remanufacturer (3PR) that has been licensed by the OEM enters the remanufacturing market to compete with the OEM at the second period.Design/methodology/approachThis paper analyzes the OEM's optimal decisions of remanufacturability level in the product design and unit patent licensing fee at the first period, as well as the OEM's and the 3PR's optimal decisions of selling prices at the second period, under two scenarios that the remanufacturing is constrained or unconstrained by the collected quantity available at the end of the first period, by making use of game theory.FindingsThe study finds that the OEM will choose high remanufacturability in product design only when the unit cost saving of remanufacturing or unit production cost of new products exceed certain thresholds.Originality/valueThe study is the first attempt to simultaneously integrate product design and patent licensing in remanufacturing. It provides useful insights for OEM managers who face competition from 3PRs and may use their product design strategies to deter 3PRs and may protect patent of products by levying patent licensing fees from 3PRs.

Promoting Electric Vehicle Cell Innovation Diffusion Considering Patent Licensing Strategy: A Combination of Evolutionary Game and Optimization Algorithm Approach

Electric vehicle cell industry is an emerging area with fierce competition on technical innovation, in which the patent holder can choose different innovation diffusion options to maximize the return; however, the strategy is unclear in certain scenarios. We tried to explain the question of how to maximize the patent holder’s return by appropriate patent license strategy to promote EV cell innovation diffusion, when competition and patent licensing relationship exist in the supply chain. A multistage and multichannel diffusion model of EV cell comprising the patent holder, EV cell producer and EV producers is developed; the evolutionary game is analyzed considering the competition among same stage players and patent licensing relationship among different stage players; and an optimization algorithm is introduced to find the maximum weighted object function of the patent holder. We established the multistage and multichannel diffusion model and found a nonlinear complex relationship between patent holder object function and the key factors including patent royalty pricing and innovation advantage coefficient; in addition, an optimization algorithm is developed based on adopters’ decision-making related with competition and patent licensing.

Inventor-Entrepreneurs: Patents and Patent Licensing in the Early Republic

Independent inventors have limited routes to secure financial returns on the time and capital they invest to develop and realize a new idea. Research into two centuries of inventors has identified their options as licensing patents once they are issued, selling inventions (and patents) to existing companies, forging consulting arrangements with operating firms, or raising funds and starting a business. This article explores patent licensing as an entrepreneurial approach using a case study of the largely unknown licensing program undertaken by Samuel Hopkins after receiving the first U. S. patent. A license agreement signed between Hopkins and Eli Cogswell, a potash manufacturer in Vermont, offers a case study of how an inventor-entrepreneur worked in the early American republic. It also provides insights into the links between intellectual property and entrepreneurship, the mindset of inventor-entrepreneurs, and the challenges of bringing a new technology to market at a foundational moment in U. S. history.

From Potential to Real Threat? The Impacts of Technology Attributes on Licensing Competition—Evidence from China during 2002–2013

Prior studies have extensively discussed firms’ propensity of licensing under different levels of competition. This study clarifies the differences between potential technology competition (PTC) and actual licensing competition (ALC). We investigate the relationship between these two types of competition in the context of Chinese patent licensing landscape, using patent licensing data during 2002–2013. We find that the positive effect of PTC on ALC is contingent upon the nature of licensed patent, such as generality, complexity, and newness. Our findings help scholars and managers interested in licensing to understand and monitor the likelihood of licensing competition. Policy implications are presented at the end of this study.