The interplay between universities and companies. A case study in the field of 3D Printing

Understanding the link between research done at universities and the implication for industrial applications is a recurrent topic in innovation. Non-Patent Literature (NPL) citations found in patents have been seen as a tool to examine this relationship. The study shows that for certain technology sectors NPL citation plays no role as universities do not research in this area or innovation does not require scientific knowledge. For those sectors in which NPL citation plays a more important role, like patents of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, bibliographic data of cited NPL may be used to understand the geographical and institutional origin of these documents to have a clearer idea of knowledge flows between universities, research institutions and firms. NPL is shown to be mostly developed by universities and research institutions whereas firms are normally behind patents, reinforcing patents as an indicator of industrial knowledge development and NPL as an indicator for academic knowledge development. Technological landscapes should consider both to assess possible links and similarity among both. In the case of 3D printing both NPL and patent literature (PL) developments show to share a common long run trend, evidenced by a cointegration relationship, showing that for this specific technology both innovative actors: universities and firms play an important role in innovation development.