Environmental-related patent technology transfer effectiveness A comparison between Portugal and Australia using OECD data, João Ferreira, Cristina Fernandes and Dr. Vanessa Ratten
João J. Ferreira, Cristina Fernandes
Management and Economics Department
University of Beira Interior & NECE – Research Centre in Business Sciences, Covilhã
Portugal
Dr. Vanessa Ratten
College of Arts Social Sciences and Commerce
La Trobe University, Victoria
Australia
Email: v.ratten@latrobe.edu.au
DOI: 10.1108/WJEMSD-10-2017-0079
Purpose: Environmental-related technology transfer is increasingly being viewed as a policy issue and a business goal to be pursued by countries in order to increase their global competitiveness. Despite this policy importance, the research analysing environmental-related technology transfer comparing international rates of participation is limited. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach: The authors analyse the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data using econometric analysis to compare environmental-related technology patents between Portugal and Australia in terms of environmental management, water-related adaptation, and climate change mitigation.
Findings: The results suggest that environmental-related patents, in turn, are always registered in greater numbers by Australia than by Portugal but with both countries outpaced by the OECD average.
Research limitations/implications: The research implications are that Australia has more international cooperation around the development of environmental-related technology patents than Portugal.
Practical implications: The authors find that overall these patents do not have any statistically significant effect on predicting gross domestic product growth but there has been a higher number of patents for Australia focusing on water-related adaptation technology than for Portugal, which may be a result of policies aimed at increasing effective use of water in Australia.
Originality/value: The results of the analysis suggest that the OECD member state cooperation increases the number of environmental-related technology patents and serves as a mechanism to facilitate internationalisation.
Keywords: Sustainable development; Sustainability.
Citation: Ferreira, J.J., Fernandes, C. and Ratten, V. (2018), "Environmental-related patent technology transfer effectiveness: A comparison between Portugal and Australia using OECD data", World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 206-221. https://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-10-2017-0079
