| Abstract: | This paper reviews US statistics on international transactions in royalties and license fees to provide insights into the
inward international licensing of technology by US-based firms. The data and their limitations are described. Trends in the
data suggest that a change is occurring in the balance between outward and inward licensing of technology by US-based firms.
The statistics are consistent with the idea that such firms have a diminishing technological lead and that technology importing,
in addition to technology exporting, is becoming important to them. The new situation raises issues for corporate strategy
and technology management, as well as for government policy.
Mary Ellen Mogee is president of Mogee Research & Analysis Associates, a consulting firm in Great Falls, VA. She established
the firm in 1985, after 15 years in policy-analysis positions at the National Science Foundation, the Congressional Research
Service, the National Bureau of Standards, and the Patent and Trademark Office. She also teaches in the Management of Science,
Technology, and Innovation program in the School of Business and Public Management at the George Washington University. Mogee
received her Ph.D. in political science and an MA in science, technology, and public policy from George Washington University. |
