From Erkko Autio
It is tempting to use the measure of patents per million people to compare countries’ levels of innovation – as did, for example, your Insider special on Switzerland (UK edition, 6 November 2010, p 46). But non-Swiss technology firms establish parent companies in Switzerland for tax reasons. These hold the company’s patents and charge royalty revenue to non-Swiss “subsidiaries”, minimising tax burdens in their home countries.
So Switzerland’s nice-looking statistics are explained by inventiveness, but not the technological kind.
Hurst, Berkshire, UK
