This paper focuses on Italian universities' patenting activities between 1965 and 2002 and
on the way they were affected by internal IPR regulations, set as part of broader responses
to the increased level of autonomy granted to universities during the 1990s. Our analyses
are based on a unique dataset including detailed information on all patents filed by Italian
universities and university-level characteristics. Results show that:(1) in the last 10 years, the
number of Italian university patents rose substantially;(2) patenting activities almost tripled in …

We use patent applications and their extensions filed by Italian Universities between 1965
and 2002 to analyze their responses to institutional and organizational changes on IPRs
regulations. Our results show that the number of patents, as well as foreign extensions or
direct applications for foreign patents raised substantially with the level of autonomy granted
to Universities. These growing patterns are reinforced by the adoption of internal IPR
regulations, which also determined an increase in the number of sole-owned patents and a …