Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

Fig. 1-15: Number of scientific (citable) articles in the fields of computer science and engineering, standardised 
by country population, 2018
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
LU
X
FIN
CY
P
DN
K
SW
E
PR
T
AU
T
IRL
SV
N
NL
D
CZ
E
GBR
ES
T
Ø E
U-2
8
BE
L
GRC
DEU
SV
K
M
LT
ITA
LV
A
FR
A
ES
P
HRV
POL
LT
U
RO
U
HU
N
BG
R
CH
E
AU
S
CA
N
US
A
CH
N
BR
A
ZAF
EU Member States
Reference countries
Nu
m
be
r o
f a
rt
ic
le
s p
er 1
,0
00 i
nh
ab
ita
nt
s
Source: Scimago Journal & Country Rank (2019). Graphic: iit.

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36
Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020
the rise. Patents contain a detailed description of 
inventions and innovations and thus make them 
easier to imitate – occasionally also with a virtually 
identical methodology, prompting legal questions 
over the scope of patent protection. This can give 
medium-sized companies in particular a strategic 
incentive to avoid patent costs and legal disputes 
over intellectual property and instead to invest fi-
nancial resources in continuous research output, in 
keeping the methods they use confidential or in 
their sales and marketing.
28
At the same time, com-
panies, and particularly start-ups, are growing in-
creasingly conscious of innovation protection and 
their need for an IP strategy (comprising a strategic 
mix of intellectual property rights) if they are to 
succeed.