https://19-pacheco-torgal-19.blogspot.com/2022/01/as-patentes-nao-contribuem-para.html
Still following the article by three German Professors of Innovation Economics that was mentioned in the post above, where is it possible to read that “Patents seem to have no clear effect on economic growth” it is not a big surprise to read in a recent article in Business Insider that the focus of European innovators should not be in protecting intellectual property but instead on value creation.
However, it is a pity that Ian Mundell, the author of the article, fails to mention the famous 10 billion Theranos unicorn, which had over 100 patents, that were based in a vacuum of evidence (zero in terms of value creation). So it makes perfect sense to ask, how many patents are there (among the many millions granted so far) that have the same “quality” as Theranos patents?
Ps – In January of this year, a violent discussion has erupted in Australia, over a decision of the Ministry of Education, who decided to veto the funding of six research projects all in the field of Humanities, allegedly because they didn´t give enough value to taxpayers’ money. In the book “Not For Profit: why democracy needs the humanities” the philosopher M.Nussbaum wrote that the Humanities are essential for maintaining healthy democracies. Of course, a cynical person might go so far as to say that Nussbaum’s opinion is just the opinion of someone who defends his own scientific field. Be there as it may, let’s imagine that there was a scientific field that could contribute to avoiding war (the reconstruction of Ukraine alone will cost hundreds of billions and the IMF warned that this War will devastate the world economy) this scientific field would no doubt have a very high economic value, but how could we measure it?
Pacheco-Torgal 