The SIM Section invites you to a SIM Research Seminar where Vilma Chila from the University of Amsterdam will visit our department and give the following presentation:

Patent eligibility concerns and VC financing of novel technologies
 

Abstract
Patents play an essential part in startups' success—particularly those developing novel technologies. However, novel technologies face an evolving regulatory context that can raise questions about the eligibility and hence the validity of the granted rights (i.e., patent eligibility uncertainty). We study the effect of patent eligibility uncertainty on startups' ability to attract Venture Capital (VC) financing using the context of genomic sequences. Since 1980, the USPTO has allowed patents on nucleotide sequences—the building blocks of the genome. This practice was disturbed in 2010 when the court system intervened in The Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics. Between 2010 and 2013, the lower courts issued a series of contradictory rulings based on inconsistent legal reasoning, creating uncertainty about the patent eligibility of thousands of granted patents on nucleotide sequences. We exploit this intervention to investigate the effects of patent eligibility uncertainty on VC investments in new biotech ventures. The court system's intervention motivates a quasi-experimental approach that allows us to show the negative impact of patent eligibility uncertainty on VC investments in startups owning affected patents.

Bio
Vilma Chila is an Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam. Her research is at the crossroads of entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategic management. Her research focuses on understanding how individual and firm-level factors influence entrepreneurial entry, innovation, and performance in new and established firms. Her work has been published at the Journal of Business Venturing, and her dissertation was a finalist for the Heizer Dissertation Award in New Enterprise Development, Entrepreneurship division of the Academy of Management.
 

Everyone is welcome!