Patenting and Innovation in Great Britain, 1852-1977

This is a long-term research project led by Dr Joe Lane with colleagues at Queen's University, Belfast, and Ulster University. The project is examining the British patent system 1852-1977 using contemporary digital humanities and text-analytics techniques. It is exploring the extent to which patent systems incentivise the rate, direction and types of innovative activities, thus contributing to economic growth. The project is analysing over 2,000,000 patents granted in Great Britain, contextualised through archival sources relating to institutional, political and legal contexts of the time.