To copatent or not to copatent: An agent-based model for firms facing this dilemma

Firm performance is an important output that managers should control. Of the several perspectives taken to analyse performance within companies, innovation performance and economic performance are especially relevant. Joint patents are an important but overlooked strategy that firms can use to improve their performance. In this paper, an agent-based model and simulator (PABIM) is developed to investigate the impact of noncopatenting and copatenting strategies on economic and innovation performance. Economic performance is evaluated by observing turnover, whereas innovation performance is evaluated using the Innovation Patent Index (IPI). IPI is based on five patent features, each of them defined using machine learning algorithms. The results show that, depending on the innovation intensity of the sector, both noncopatenting and copatenting strategies can be effective to improve both the economic and innovation performance.