Relationship between intellectual property and economic competitiveness

Various economic theories indicate that many factors determine the competitive position of national economies. In addition to classical factors such as natural resources, technology, and capital (including human capital), other elements include openness and readiness to generate and implement innovation. An important role is played by institutional and legal systems, which provide economic liberty, free competition, and protection against monopolies, corruption, and crime. According to some research, an important role is also played by issues related to intellectual property (and more precisely, industrial property). The purpose of this article is to verify the importance of intellectual property on economic development. For this purpose, literary studies and patent research were primarily used, including an analysis of the relative specialization index (RSI). The analysis results indicated that the effect of IPP on GNP was not explicit and, depending on the starting position of an economy, and an increase in IPP outlays may have various effects. Another important finding is the extraordinarily dynamic growth of the Chinese economy, as measured by patent indices.