Intellectual property and scientific research: A study of the interaction between IPR and research

Abstract

The impact of intellectual property rights on innovation has been a fundamental concern of law- and policymakers, scholars, and researchers in both public and private institutions. In this thesis, I scrutinize the intellectual property rights debate regarding researchers, public and private institutions, open science, and innovation, and then address a set of correlated questions regarding IPR’s affect and influence on national researchers regarding innovation in (1) their choice of research area and research approach; (2) communication and access to state of the art technology; (3) future research; and (4) disclosure. Norwegian national institutes will be the foundation for my research. To address the questions I create an online survey that will be used to find trends among the researchers, and augment the survey results with interviews to get a deeper understanding behind the reasons for these trends. I find that Norwegian national researchers are affected by IPR, whether it is consciously or unconsciously, but not in a manner that hinders innovation and research in a great amount.