Patent technology licensing and the growth of Chinese firms' innovation capabilities

This paper deals with the relationship between patent licensing,technological learning,and firms' growth of innovation capabilities based on a unique data from Chinese Patent Office with 186 native Chinese firms.The findings show that firms may learn from their previous in-licensing technologies.However,firms that license from abroad outperform that license from domestic parties in terms of innovation quantity and quality.We could not find the evidence that foreign technology-based on licensing could facilitate the formation of firms' international innovation capability.Firm size and the absorptive capability show a significant and positive effect on firms' innovation capabilities.Regional innovation systems and firms' sector characteristics contribute little.Eventually,a short conclusion and some implications are drawn in the end of this paper.