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research
UPHG researchers have attracted more than SEK 28 million in external funding
Over the years, UPHG has received generous funding from the following funders: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, The Swedish Research Council, Jan Wallander och Tom Hedelius stiftelse Tore Browaldhs stiftelse, The Lars Erik Lundberg Foundation for Research and Education, Torsten Söderbergs Stiftelse, The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Uppsala University, Peter Wallenberg Foundation, Åke Wibergs Stiftelse, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, Vinnova, ANII.
On-going projects:
Micro dynamics of markets for ideas: Patent trade, costs and litigation during the industrialization of Sweden​​​​​​​​
PI: Fredrik Tell
Researchers: David Andersson, Matti La Mela​​​​​​​​
2024-2027, SEK 1.6 million
Markets for ideas (MFI) enable inventors to sell inventions that others could be better suited to either develop further and/or commercialize. During the industrialization of Sweden MFI were developed as, for instance the rate of patenting increased. Lack of data is however a major problem to conduct in-depth analyses of the role of MFI during eras of industrialization. The purpose of this research project is therefore to go beyond aggregated analyses and focus underlying dynamics in MFI during the industrialization of Sweden, by benefiting from new data that has been made available regarding 1) “Inventor’s exchanges”; 2) real costs for patenting (including, for instance, costs accruing to the use of patent agents); 3) patent litigations.​​​​​​​​
Funded by：
From invention to innovation: Novelty, impact and value of patents in 20th century Sweden​​​​​​​​
PI: Fredrik Tell
Researchers: Yunting Xie, Matti La Mela​​​​​​​​
2024-2028, SEK 4 million
Innovation and technological change are key components of modern economic growth, something that has been quantified and measured by patent data. However, since a large number of patents are granted each year, it is of the utmost importance to understand which innovations are truly significant for technological change and industrial renewal. This research project contributes through a new interdisciplinary approach. Instead of, for example, counting paid patent fees or patent citations, we apply new digital research methods in natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (AI research) to recently digitized archival material on Swedish historical patents in the period from the end of the 19th century to the international oil crisis in the middle of the 1970s. The project also includes digitization of patent data for the period 1946-1975. The goal is to apply and further develop a recently presented method to assess the value of a patent through its textual similarity and impact compared to other patents. The analysis aims to shed new light on Swedish patent and innovation history more specifically and the understanding of the value of innovation more generally.
Funded by：
Transnational innovation: a computational study on language change and co-creation in France and Sweden during the Second Industrial Revolution
PI: Matti La Mela
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RJ Advanced Studies Programme, 2025-2027
This project includes a research fellowship at Institute d’études avancées de Paris in 2025-2026. The aim is to study the emergence and movement of technical knowledge in digitised patent documents in Sweden and France during the Second Industrial Revolution. The project employs computational text analysis to examine language change, exploring how innovation takes place collaboratively in this transnational (and translational) space. The project will also discuss the development of standards and frameworks for linking national patent databases at European and international levels.
Funded by：
Early innovations in Sweden: Mapping patents and inventors before the modern patent system, 1835-1885
PI: Matti La Mela
Researchers: David Andersson, Fredrik Tell​​​​​​​​
2025-2026, SEK 140 000
The project studies innovation and inventors in Sweden in 1835 to 1885, an era marking the transition from the first to the second Industrial Revolution and the establishment of the modern Swedish patent system in 1885. The project collects data and digitises archival patent documents held at Riksarkivet.
Funded by：
Making public property: a digital history of allemansrätten in Sweden and Finland, 1880–1950
PI: Matti La Mela
Researchers: Postdoc (TBD)​​​​​​​​
2026-2028, SEK 3.3 million
The project studies the roots of the Nordic allemansrätten, a right of public access to nature. Despite allemansrätten’s role today as a constitutional principle, a building block of Nordic identity, and a slogan for country branding, This project fills the gap and examines the diverse perceptions, local conflicts, and future visions about the use and ownership of non-timber nature in Sweden and Finland in 1880-1950, a period before the term “allemansrätten” was commonly used.
Funded by：
Building Japan-Sweden Patent Families: Patent Agents, Multinational Enterprises and Trading Companies (1900–1945)
PI: Yunting Xie
Researchers: Shigehiro Nishimura​​​​​​​​
JSPS Summer Program, 2025, SEK 68 000
The project aims to develop a first study on Swedish patents in Japan during the first half of the twentieth century, when industrialization of both countries was promoted by the diffusion of technological progress of the Second Industrial Revolution. The patents granted to Swedish inventors in Japan demonstrates how Swedish technology breakthroughs played a role in Japan’s industrialization as early as in the 1900s. The research explores the Sweden-Japan patent families: what kind of Swedish inventions were patented in Japan, how were the patents managed and commercialized in the Japanese market and who facilitated the patenting and commercialization?
Funded by：
Past projects:
Identifying novel and important inventions in historical patent documents with techniques from natural language processing
PI: Fredrik Tell
Researchers: Matti La Mela, Jonas Frankemölle​​​​​​​​
Centre for Digital Humanities Uppsala Pilot Project, 2023-2024, research engineer funding​
The aim of the pilot project was to offer new approaches to defining novel technologies through digital textual analysis of the language used in historical patent documents in Sweden. The pilot project focused on studying novelty and impact of patents with NLP methods: specifically, through the first appearances of certain key technical concepts and the long-term resonance of these concepts in subsequent patent documents.
Funded by：
Swedish Historical Patents Infrastructure
PI: Fredrik Tell
Researchers: David Andersson, Mats Larsson, Anders Bruun, Patricio Sáiz, Francisco Llorens​​​​​​​​
2017-2022, SEK 4.7 million​
In this project, a fully searchable, publicly accessible database for all Swedish patents covering the period 1746-1946 was built. No previous such database exists This database structure was developed in cooperation with leading international researchers and partly modeled upon the database designed by researchers at the Autonomous University of Madrid and the Spanish Patent Office. It is possible to couple the data in the database to other national and international databases. The database is partially publicly available and searchable on the webpages of PRV and Uppsala Center for Business History (UCBH).
Funded by：
Nordic Innovation Networks in the long run: Technology transfer and collaboration through the lens of Swedish-Finnish patents, 1860-2016
PI: Fredrik Tell
Researchers: David Andersson, Matti La Mela, Jari Eloranta​​​​​​​​
2020-2021, SEK 1.5 million
The aim of the project was to study how Swedish-Finnish technology transfer and collaboration in inventive activities has developed over time (mainly between 1880 to 1914), focusing on collaboration networks, patent agents, patent transfers, and patent families. The main findings emanating from the empirical analyses are the following: Finland carefully followed the institutional reforms in the neighboring Sweden and the northern European region, and established internationally compatible patent institutions. Transnational business relationships affected the specialisation of national patent agents, especially in Finland, where patent agents with a legal background contributed to the inflow of inventions managed by Swedish patent agents. Between 1885 to 1914, Swedish patentees were the largest foreign group in Finland. In this period, a total of 5,751 patents were granted in Finland. Swedish patentees patented 24.1 percent of all patents and had a share of 50.1 percent of all foreign patents in Finland. Historical patent families incorporate patents with the same invention core. 1,157 Swedish patents in Finland matched with Swedish patents, which is 83.5 percent of the Swedish patents in Finland in 1885-1914. A sample of these patents were matched with Swedish patents in the UK and the US, where matches (i.e. patent families extending internationally) represent significant patent value for inventors.
Funded by：
Patenting, patent agents and circulation of technology at the European Periphery: evidence from Finnish patent data, 1860-1939
PI: Matti La Mela​​​​​​​​
2021-2022, EUR 49 000
The research project studied patenting and networks of innovation in 1860-1939 in Finland, during the international expansion of trade in technology in the late 19th century. More specifically, the project looked at the largely unknown group of patent agents, and their role in facilitating the patenting and marketing of new technology in the international context. The project reassessed the role of the patent agents in innovation history and diffusion of new technology. The project examined, using the case of Finland, to what extent agents specialized in different technologies in their work and became part of various geographical networks.
Funded by：
Patenting, patent agents and circulation of technology at the European Periphery: evidence from Finnish patent data, 1860-1939
PI: Matti La Mela​​​​​​​​
2019-2020, EUR 50 000
The research project studied patenting and networks of innovation in 1860-1939 in Finland, during the international expansion of trade in technology in the late 19th century. More specifically, the project looked at the largely unknown group of patent agents, and their role in facilitating the patenting and marketing of new technology in the international context. The project reassessed the role of the patent agents in innovation history and diffusion of new technology. The project examined, using the case of Finland, to what extent agents specialized in different technologies in their work and became part of various geographical networks.
Funded by：
Buy, Sell or Keep? How do Swedish companies use their Intellectual Property Rights?
PI: Marcus Holgersson
Researchers: David Andersson, Fredrik Tell​​​​​​​​
2020-2023, SEK 1.7 million
Economic theory emphasizes the importance of intellectual property rights (IPR) such as patents and designs for innovation and growth, provided that the innovations are used. At the same time, court cases and research show that far from all rights are used and can instead constitute obstacles to innovation. To investigate how Swedish companies actually enforce their rights, a new database that linking patenting firms to patent litigations was developed. We collected and analyzed data on all patent infringement cases worldwide involving at least one Swedish actor (as plaintiff and/or defendant).
Funded by：
David and Goliath: Challenges associated with enforcing patents for small firms and entrepreneurs
PI: Marcus Holgersson
Researchers: David Andersson, Fredrik Tell​​​​​​​​
2020-2021, SEK 500 000
Patent litigation is an important process for innovators to protect their inventions, and for countries aiming to stimulate innovation. However, there are indications from both practice and research that small firms and entrepreneurs encounter relatively large challenges in patent infringement litigation, as compared to larger firms. The purpose of this project has been to increase our understanding of these challenges. We also conducted 38 in-depth interviews among small firms, entrepreneurs, and attorneys with experience from patent litigation in Sweden. We moreover observed a patent court case between an individual inventor and his former collaborator (this study is still ongoing). The data was analyzed in order to understand the complexity of challenges with patent litigation.
Funded by：
Infrastruktur, institutioner och innovation: ett mikroperspektiv på Sveriges industrialisering, 1819- 1914
PI: David Andersson
Researchers: Thor Berger, Erik Prawitz​​​​​​​​
2019-2020, SEK 1.6 million
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Funded by：
​Humankapital och Innovation: Den tekniska utbildningens betydelse för svenska företags och regioners innovationskraft
PI: David Andersson
Researchers: Thor Berger, Erik Prawitz​​​​​​​​
2019-2020, SEK 2.2 million
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Funded by：
Competition and intellectual property
PI: David Andersson
Researchers: Bengt Domeij, Fredrik Tell​​​​​​​​
2018-2019, SEK 713 000
This project in the economics of law aims to shed light on how uncertain intellectual property rights can affect the competitive situation of different actors through the possibility of oppositions to granted patents and trademarks. Secure and well-defined intellectual property rights are crucial for effective competition between actors in a market, since in the simplest theoretical model an opposition procedure has the potential to transform a market from a monopoly to a duopoly. The project focuses on a hitherto neglected aspect in the literature, opposition procedures against patents and trademarks during the period 1977-2016. An empirical analysis of how these oppositions are related to the type of intellectual property rights and their owners can provide insight into how companies act strategically to create uncertainty about competitors' intellectual property rights while protecting their own.​​​​​​​​
Funded by：
Strategic considerations regarding trademarks, patents and designs: Appeals in PBR (Swedish Court of Ptent Appeals)
PI: Fredrik Tell
Researchers: David Andersson, Bengt Domeij​​​​​​​​
2018-2019, SEK 1.2 million
The project studied appeals to intellectual property rights. Between 1977 and 2016, the number of patent and design applications to the PRV decreased sharply, while trademark applications remained stable. At the same time, the number of applications to the EUIPO has increased. The stagnant national development was also reflected in the number of appeals in the PBR at an aggregate level. At the company and industry level, there were variation in appeals, with few companies consistently at the top.​​​​​​​​
Funded by：
Collaboration and invention networks in Latin America: empirical evidence from patent data
PI: Pablo Galaso
Researchers: David Andersson, Patricio Sáiz​​​​​​​​
2018-2020, $U 1.1 million
This project seeks to analyze collaborative networks associated with invention activities in Latin America, with a special focus on the case of Uruguay. A mixed research design is proposed, with two types of data: patent records and qualitative information collected through expert interviews. Regarding patent records, two databases will be used: records from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which contain data from 1976 to the present, and records from the National Directorate of Industrial Property of Uruguay, with data from 1995 to the present. The latter will allow for a more detailed analysis of the Uruguayan case.​​​​​​​​
Funded by：
