Teamwork in innovation under time pressure

Abstract

We investigate how innovating firms respond to time pressure in terms of the size of research teams using U.S. patent data. We study the impact of a natural experiment that took place in 1995 when U.S. patent law was amended with a special provision that provided an incentive for firms to hasten research. We also utilize the randomized assignment of examiners to patent applications to identify firms under time pressure. We find that firms under time pressure assemble larger research teams. With innovation races becoming more competitive globally, our finding sheds light on the trend of increasing teamwork in research. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.