Prof. de Rassenfosse receives funding from the US NSF
© NSF
Prof. de Rassenfosse has received $150k funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation as the principal investigator for a research project entitled "IPRoduct: A Database of Linked Products-intellectual Property Rights."
The project was submitted to the Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) scheme of the Science of Science & Innovation Policy program directed by Maryann Feldman. The EAGER funding mechanism supports exploratory work in its early stages on untested, but potentially transformative, research ideas or approaches. Prof. Marie Thursby, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, is a co-investigator.
The project will build a database that links innovative goods sold in the U.S. economy to the exact patents upon which they are based. The production of such a database has never been attempted on such a large scale before, yet promises to greatly improve our understanding of the Science and Innovation (S&I) venture. By directly linking patents to products, this project facilitates the tracking of innovation to the point where it meets consumers, the true end point of the S&I venture. This project will also increase public engagement with S&I: It provides a radically new tool for demonstrating in a more systematic manner the breadth of science, the role of federal funding therein, and their combined impact on everyday life. Finally, the project will generate a better understanding of how intellectual property impacts the economy, as well as provide a means of estimating the magnitude of that impact.
The award of a grant by the NSF to a non-U.S. based scholar is a rare event that acknowledges the importance and breakthrough nature of the research performed by Prof. de Rassenfosse.