Patents do not reflect science capability

[Erik Nikkanen]

Interesting article at Graphic Arts Online.

Quad/Graphics Ranked Among Top Patent Innovators - 9/18/2009 10:56:00 AM - Graphic Arts Online

It refers to a Wall Street Journal article that rates 50 top companies in the Heavy Industrial Equipment category, on their innovative abilities . The article was mainly about Quad Graphic's good showing, but what was of interest was the ratings for Heidelberg and manroland. The WSJ article is:

Patent Scorecard - Markets Data Center - WSJ.com

Quad had only 5 patents but scored high in science strength, industry impact and very high in research intensity.
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On the other hand, Heidelberg and manroland had 45 and 25 patents respectively but both scored very low in science strength, industry impact and in research intensity.
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This has been one of my points for years, that press manufacturers are not good at science and it seems obvious to those outside the industry that having lots of patent is not directly related to scientific knowledge that is effective in a competitive way. Maybe those in the print industry will start to also see this.