IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/62607.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Invention and diffusion of water supply and water efficiency technologies: insights from a global patent dataset

Author

Listed:
  • Conway, Declan
  • Dechezlepretre, Antoine
  • Haščič, Ivan
  • Johnstone, Nick

Abstract

This paper identifies over 50 000 patents filed worldwide in various water-related technologies between 1990 and 2010, distinguishing between those related to availability (supply) and conservation (demand) technologies. Patenting activity is analysed – including inventive activity by country and technology, international diffusion of such water-related technologies, and international collaboration in technology development. Three results stand out from our analysis. First, although inventive activity in water-related technologies has been increasing over the last two decades, this growth has been disproportionately concentrated on supply-side technologies. Second, whilst 80% of water-related invention worldwide occurs in countries with low or moderate water scarcity, several countries with absolute or chronic water scarcity are relatively specialized in water efficiency technologies. Finally, although we observe a positive correlation between water scarcity and local filings of water patents, some countries with high water availability, in particular Switzerland or Norway, nevertheless appear as significant markets for water-efficiency technologies. This suggests that drivers other than local demand, like regulation and social and cultural factors, play a role in explaining the global flows of technologies. And finally, the extent to which innovation is "internationalised" shows some distinct patterns relative to those observed for innovation in technologies in general.

Suggested Citation

  • Conway, Declan & Dechezlepretre, Antoine & Haščič, Ivan & Johnstone, Nick, 2015. "Invention and diffusion of water supply and water efficiency technologies: insights from a global patent dataset," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62607, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:62607
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/62607/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bernard M. Hoekman & Keith E. Maskus & Kamal Saggi, 2023. "Transfer of Technology to Developing Countries: Unilateral and Multilateral Policy Options," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Kamal Saggi (ed.), Technology Transfer, Foreign Direct Investment, and the Protection of Intellectual Property in the Global Economy, chapter 5, pages 127-142, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Dechezlepretre, Antoine & Glachant, Matthieu & Hascic, Ivan & Johnstone, Nick & Meniere, Yann, 2009. "Invention and Transfer of Climate Change Mitigation Technologies on a Global Scale: A Study Drawing on Patent Data," Sustainable Development Papers 54361, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    3. Nick Johnstone & Ivan Haščič & Julie Poirier & Marion Hemar & Christian Michel, 2012. "Environmental policy stringency and technological innovation: evidence from survey data and patent counts," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(17), pages 2157-2170, June.
    4. Molle, François & Wester, Philippus & Hirsch, Philip, 2010. "River basin closure: Processes, implications and responses," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(4), pages 569-577, April.
    5. David Popp, 2011. "International Technology Transfer, Climate Change, and the Clean Development Mechanism," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(1), pages 131-152, Winter.
    6. Philippe Aghion & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & David Hémous & Ralf Martin & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Carbon Taxes, Path Dependency, and Directed Technical Change: Evidence from the Auto Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(1), pages 1-51.
    7. Edwin Mansfield & John Rapoport & Anthony Romeo & Samuel Wagner & George Beardsley, 1977. "Social and Private Rates of Return from Industrial Innovations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 91(2), pages 221-240.
    8. Nick Johnstone & Ivan Haščič & David Popp, 2010. "Renewable Energy Policies and Technological Innovation: Evidence Based on Patent Counts," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 45(1), pages 133-155, January.
    9. repec:fth:harver:1473 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Matthieu Glachant & Yann Ménière, 2013. "What Drives the International Transfer of Climate Change Mitigation Technologies? Empirical Evidence from Patent Data," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 54(2), pages 161-178, February.
    11. R. Quentin Grafton & Gary Libecap & Samuel McGlennon & Clay Landry & Bob O'Brien, 2011. "An Integrated Assessment of Water Markets: A Cross-Country Comparison," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(2), pages 219-239, Summer.
    12. Popp, David, 2006. "International innovation and diffusion of air pollution control technologies: the effects of NOX and SO2 regulation in the US, Japan, and Germany," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 46-71, January.
    13. Elena Verdolini & Marzio Galeotti, 2009. "At Home and Abroad: An Empirical Analysis of Innovation and Diffusion in Energy-Efficient Technologies," Working Papers 2009.123, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    14. Ivan Haščič & Nick Johnstone & Nadja Kahrobaie, 2012. "International Technology Agreements for Climate Change: Analysis Based on Co-Invention Data," OECD Environment Working Papers 42, OECD Publishing.
    15. Eaton, Jonathan & Kortum, Samuel, 1996. "Trade in ideas Patenting and productivity in the OECD," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-4), pages 251-278, May.
    16. Lanjouw, Jean Olson & Mody, Ashoka, 1996. "Innovation and the international diffusion of environmentally responsive technology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 549-571, June.
    17. Rijsberman, Frank R., 2006. "Water scarcity: Fact or fiction?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(1-3), pages 5-22, February.
    18. Parello, Carmelo Pierpaolo, 2008. "A north-south model of intellectual property rights protection and skill accumulation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1-2), pages 253-281, February.
    19. Charles I. Jones & John C. Williams, 1998. "Measuring the Social Return to R&D," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1119-1135.
    20. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Matthieu Glachant & Ivan Haščič & Nick Johnstone & Yann Ménière, 2011. "Invention and Transfer of Climate Change--Mitigation Technologies: A Global Analysis," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(1), pages 109-130, Winter.
    21. Raphael Calel & Antoine Dechezleprêtre, 2016. "Environmental Policy and Directed Technological Change: Evidence from the European Carbon Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(1), pages 173-191, March.
    22. Keith E. Maskus, 2000. "Intellectual Property Rights in the Global Economy," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 99, October.
    23. Pakes, Ariel, 1985. "On Patents, R&D, and the Stock Market Rate of Return," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(2), pages 390-409, April.
    24. Jaffe, Adam B, 1986. "Technological Opportunity and Spillovers of R&D: Evidence from Firms' Patents, Profits, and Market Value," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 984-1001, December.
    25. Shardul Agrawala & Cécile Bordier & Victoria Schreitter & Valerie Karplus, 2012. "Adaptation and Innovation: An Analysis of Crop Biotechnology Patent Data," OECD Environment Working Papers 40, OECD Publishing.
    26. Kamal Saggi, 2002. "Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and International Technology Transfer: A Survey," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 191-235, September.
    27. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 287-343, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. Mancusi, Maria Luisa, 2008. "International spillovers and absorptive capacity: A cross-country cross-sector analysis based on patents and citations," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 155-165, December.
    29. Wesley M. Cohen & Richard R. Nelson & John P. Walsh, 2000. "Protecting Their Intellectual Assets: Appropriability Conditions and Why U.S. Manufacturing Firms Patent (or Not)," NBER Working Papers 7552, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. Frank J. Convery, 2013. "Reflections--Shaping Water Policy: What Does Economics Have to Offer?," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 7(1), pages 156-174, January.
    31. Ivan Haščič & Mauro Migotto, 2015. "Measuring environmental innovation using patent data," OECD Environment Working Papers 89, OECD Publishing.
    32. Yann Ménière & Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Matthieu Glachant & Ivan Hascic & N. Johnstone, 2011. "Invention and transfer of climate change mitigation technologies: a study drawing on patent data," Post-Print hal-00869795, HAL.
    33. Sheila M. Olmstead, 2010. "The Economics of Managing Scarce Water Resources," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(2), pages 179-198, Summer.
    34. Verdolini, Elena & Galeotti, Marzio, 2011. "At home and abroad: An empirical analysis of innovation and diffusion in energy technologies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 119-134, March.
    35. Purohit, Pallav & Kandpal, Tara C., 2005. "Renewable energy technologies for irrigation water pumping in India: projected levels of dissemination, energy delivery and investment requirements using available diffusion models," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 9(6), pages 592-607, December.
    36. Smith, Pamela J., 2001. "How do foreign patent rights affect U.S. exports, affiliate sales, and licenses?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 411-439, December.
    37. Eaton, Jonathan & Kortum, Samuel, 1999. "International Technology Diffusion: Theory and Measurement," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 40(3), pages 537-570, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hongxiu Li & Horatiu Rus, 2018. "Water Innovation and Water Governance: Adaptive Responses to Regulatory Change and Extreme Weather Events," Working Papers 1801, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2018.
    2. Zheming Yan & Lan Yi & Kerui Du & Zhiming Yang, 2017. "Impacts of Low-Carbon Innovation and Its Heterogeneous Components on CO 2 Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14, April.
    3. Bediako, Isaac Asare & Zhao, Xicang & Antwi, Henry Asante & Mensah, Claudia Nyarko, 2018. "Urban water supply systems improvement through water technology adoption," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 70-77.
    4. David Popp, 2019. "Environmental Policy and Innovation: A Decade of Research," NBER Working Papers 25631, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Hötte, Kerstin & Jee, Su Jung, 2022. "Knowledge for a warmer world: A patent analysis of climate change adaptation technologies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    6. David Popp, 2019. "Environmental policy and innovation: a decade of research," CESifo Working Paper Series 7544, CESifo.
    7. Yan, Zheming & Du, Keru & Yang, Zhiming & Deng, Min, 2017. "Convergence or divergence? Understanding the global development trend of low-carbon technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 499-509.
    8. Sam Fankhauser, 2016. "Adaptation to climate change," GRI Working Papers 255, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    9. Mare Sarr & Joëlle Noailly, 2017. "Innovation, Diffusion, Growth and the Environment: Taking Stock and Charting New Directions," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 66(3), pages 393-407, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Matthieu Glachant, 2014. "Does Foreign Environmental Policy Influence Domestic Innovation? Evidence from the Wind Industry," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 58(3), pages 391-413, July.
    2. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Matthieu Glachant & Yann Ménière, 2013. "What Drives the International Transfer of Climate Change Mitigation Technologies? Empirical Evidence from Patent Data," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 54(2), pages 161-178, February.
    3. Dechezlepretre, Antoine & Glachant, Matthieu & Hascic, Ivan & Johnstone, Nick & Meniere, Yann, 2009. "Invention and Transfer of Climate Change Mitigation Technologies on a Global Scale: A Study Drawing on Patent Data," Sustainable Development Papers 54361, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    4. Dechezleprêtre, Antoine & Neumayer, Eric & Perkins, Richard, 2015. "Environmental regulation and the cross-border diffusion of new technology: Evidence from automobile patents," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 244-257.
    5. David Popp, 2019. "Environmental policy and innovation: a decade of research," CESifo Working Paper Series 7544, CESifo.
    6. Dechezlepretre, Antoine & Perkins, Richard & Neumayer, Eric, 2012. "Regulatory Distance and the Transfer of New Environmentally Sound Technologies: Evidence from the Automobile Sector," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 128199, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    7. Glachant, Matthieu & Dussaux, Damien & Meniere, Yann & Dechezlepretre, Antoine, 2013. "Greening global value chains : innovation and the international diffusion of technologies and knowledge," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6467, The World Bank.
    8. Herman, Kyle S. & Xiang, Jun, 2019. "Induced innovation in clean energy technologies from foreign environmental policy stringency?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 198-207.
    9. Tomasz Kijek & Arkadiusz Kijek & Piotr Bolibok & Anna Matras-Bolibok, 2021. "The Patterns of Energy Innovation Convergence across European Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-17, May.
    10. David Popp, 2019. "Environmental Policy and Innovation: A Decade of Research," NBER Working Papers 25631, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Elena Verdolini & Valentina Bosetti, 2017. "Environmental Policy and the International Diffusion of Cleaner Energy Technologies," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 66(3), pages 497-536, March.
    12. Mare Sarr & Joëlle Noailly, 2017. "Innovation, Diffusion, Growth and the Environment: Taking Stock and Charting New Directions," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 66(3), pages 393-407, March.
    13. Jingbo Cui & Zhenxuan Wang & Haishan Yu, 2022. "Can International Climate Cooperation Induce Knowledge Spillover to Developing Countries? Evidence from CDM," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 82(4), pages 923-951, August.
    14. Costantini, Valeria & Crespi, Francesco & Palma, Alessandro, 2017. "Characterizing the policy mix and its impact on eco-innovation: A patent analysis of energy-efficient technologies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 799-819.
    15. Fabrizio, Kira R. & Poczter, Sharon & Zelner, Bennet A., 2017. "Does innovation policy attract international competition? Evidence from energy storage," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 1106-1117.
    16. Patricia Laurens & Christian Bas & Antoine Schoen & Stéphane Lhuillery, 2016. "Technological contribution of MNEs to the growth of energy-greentech sector in the early post-Kyoto period," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 18(2), pages 169-191, April.
    17. Valeria Costantini & Francesco Crespi & Alessandro Palma, 2015. "Characterizing the policy mix and its impact on eco-innovation in energy-efficient technologies," SEEDS Working Papers 1115, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Jun 2015.
    18. Clement Bonnet, 2020. "Measuring Knowledge with Patent Data: an Application to Low Carbon Energy Technologies," Working Papers hal-02971680, HAL.
    19. Bruns, Stephan B. & Kalthaus, Martin, 2020. "Flexibility in the selection of patent counts: Implications for p-hacking and evidence-based policymaking," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    20. Pan, Xiuzhen & Wei, Zixiang & Han, Botang & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2021. "The heterogeneous impacts of interregional green technology spillover on energy intensity in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    water security; resource scarcity; invention; international technology diffusion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water
    • Q31 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:62607. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.