Regional patent activity in Russia: does level of risks make a difference?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore empirically the linkages among level of economic, managerial, financial, criminal risks and patent activity in Russia. This paper examines the relationship between the economic, managerial, financial and criminal regional risks ratings, on the one hand, and patent activity, as measured by regional patent applications for inventions, on the other.Design/methodology/approach A random effect model was performed for a data sample of 83 regions, covering the period 2006-2010 in Russia.Findings The empirical results show that increased levels of regional economic risks are significantly associated with decrease in patent activity in Russia.Originality/value This study fills a gap within the literature and offers a unique analysis of regional risks and their impact on patent activity. The empirical results showed that economic risk ratings have had considerable negative impact on the patent activities on regional level in Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]