Innovation in private and state-owned enterprises: a cross-industry analysis of patenting activity

The aim of the present paper is to compare the innovation output of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and Privately-Owned Enterprises (POEs), as measured by patent activity, taking a cross-industry perspective. Estimation results focusing on EU countries over the period 2011-2018 reveals that in some medium high-tech manufacturing industries (i.e., manufacturing of chemical products and motor-vehicles) and in the gas and electricity industries the innovative performance of SOEs is on average superior to those of POEs. No statistically significant difference can be detected in high-tech manufacturing, while in knowledge intensive services the evidence is mixed: SOEs innovation output is inferior to POEs’ in professional, scientific, and technical activities; yet SOEs outperform POEs in transport services. Overall, these results suggest that, in specific economic sectors, SOEs may act as an important vehicle for technological development.