4 ms·

Agreed - and this coming from a person likely considered "older" in technology (i.e. > 40 yrs). I think the criteria for "innovation" is flawed or at the very l

Agreed - and this coming from a person likely considered "older" in technology (i.e. > 40 yrs). I think the criteria for "innovation" is flawed or at the very least needs to be expanded. It should include research published (pay-walled or otherwise) and high impact open source contributions at the very least. Patents are typically filed by folks working for large(ish) corporations or universities. For corporations its almost a given that someone senior up the chain is on the patent. In a university - its generally the professor(s) leading the lab that will always be on a patent filed on behalf of the lab irrespective of the work they've put into it. That behavior in itself is a bias towards having an older population be on more patents.

fapjacks 9y ago
Published research also has bias. How many first authors actually did the innovating? Versus ran the lab the innovation happened in or advised the innovator. Depends on the field, but I think most people can reasonably agree that those folks are listed as authors on the publication for reasons other than having actually innovated. But let me nip this in the bud: I am not saying those people don't deserve credit for their part, just that published research has its own share of bias.
DonaldFisk 9y ago
The highest impact open source contributions were for non-innovative work. Linux is a rewrite of Unix, GNU Emacs is a rewrite of earlier versions of Emacs. > For corporations its almost a given that someone senior up the chain is on the patent. In my experience that isn't true and in cases where it did happen it would be an abuse of process. As a rule, royalties from patents are assigned to the employer, so there's very little to be gained by being an inventor that's tangible. All I and my co-inventors got were a few low denomination US and Canadian bank notes.
- greenhouse_gas 9y ago
  What's GNU Emacs a rewrite of?
  - DonaldFisk 9y ago
    Various earlier versions, the most significant were ITS Emacs (the original) and Gosling Emacs (itself a rewrite).
- maxxxxx 9y ago
  "In my experience that isn't true and in cases where it did happen it would be an abuse of process." At my employer that's the case . Directors are pretty much on every patent that comes from their department.
  - DonaldFisk 9y ago
    It certainly shouldn't happen, but might happen at some places. It would be very suspicious if the same person's name appeared on, say, 100 patents filed within a few years of one another, and that person was a departmental manager. Inventors' dates of birth aren't on patent applications. To carry out the research, the authors of http://www2.itif.org/2016-demographics-of-innovation.pdf http://www2.itif.org/2016-demographics-of-innovation.pdf had to contact the inventors directly, so would have been able to filter out obvious cases of abuse.

fapjacks 9y ago

Published research also has bias. How many first authors actually did the innovating? Versus ran the lab the innovation happened in or advised the innovator. Depends on the field, but I think most people can reasonably agree that those folks are listed as authors on the publication for reasons other than having actually innovated. But let me nip this in the bud: I am not saying those people don't deserve credit for their part, just that published research has its own share of bias.

DonaldFisk 9y ago

The highest impact open source contributions were for non-innovative work. Linux is a rewrite of Unix, GNU Emacs is a rewrite of earlier versions of Emacs. > For corporations its almost a given that someone senior up the chain is on the patent. In my experience that isn't true and in cases where it did happen it would be an abuse of process. As a rule, royalties from patents are assigned to the employer, so there's very little to be gained by being an inventor that's tangible. All I and my co-inventors got were a few low denomination US and Canadian bank notes.

greenhouse_gas 9y ago
What's GNU Emacs a rewrite of?
- DonaldFisk 9y ago
  Various earlier versions, the most significant were ITS Emacs (the original) and Gosling Emacs (itself a rewrite).
maxxxxx 9y ago
"In my experience that isn't true and in cases where it did happen it would be an abuse of process." At my employer that's the case . Directors are pretty much on every patent that comes from their department.
- DonaldFisk 9y ago
  It certainly shouldn't happen, but might happen at some places. It would be very suspicious if the same person's name appeared on, say, 100 patents filed within a few years of one another, and that person was a departmental manager. Inventors' dates of birth aren't on patent applications. To carry out the research, the authors of http://www2.itif.org/2016-demographics-of-innovation.pdf http://www2.itif.org/2016-demographics-of-innovation.pdf had to contact the inventors directly, so would have been able to filter out obvious cases of abuse.