Assessment of R&D collaboration by patent data

Summary form only given as follows. The assessment of R&D collaboration is a highly complex issue. It encounters measuring and evaluating the collaborative context and the characteristics of collaboration and its outcomes from the perspective of the participating partners. We derive a framework that shows how patent data can be used for this purpose. It is shown that patent data provides a unique opportunity to assess collaboration activities, their outcomes and their dynamics from a neutral perspective. We retrieve a broad range of strategic measures from patent data and present exemplary formulas for illustration. These measurement criteria form the basis for an application in the automotive industry. This research is in progress and the empirical results are scheduled to be presented.