To provide additional insight into the factors that have contributed to the growth in patenting, the OECD collaborated with the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) in 2003 to conduct a survey of businesses regarding their patenting and licensing practices. The purpose of the survey was to gather qualitative information that would provide insight into evolving business strategies for managing intellectual property, assist in interpreting results of more quantitative analyses of patenting trends (e.g. using the OECD Patents database) and compensate for the lack of consistent statistical information on patent licensing. Overall, results confirmed the increased importance of patents in business strategy over the past ten years, mainly due to increased innovation, more intensive competition and patent reform (notably expanded subject matter). Firms indicated that patents play an increasingly important role ...