Prof. Dr. David Heller
Affiliated Research Fellow
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research
+49 89 24246-565
david.heller(at)ip.mpg.de
Personal Website
Areas of Interest:
Economics of Innovation, Innovation and Science Policy, Corporate Finance, (particularly Innovation- and SME finance), Applied Industrial Organization, Microeconometrics
Academic Résumé
Since 10/2024
Affiliated Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research)
10/2019 – 09/2024
Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research)
10/2014 – 09/2019
Research Assistant and Doctoral Candidate, Goethe University Frankfurt
02/2019 – 06/2019
Visiting Scholar, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, US
10/2012 – 09/2014
International Economics and Economic Policy (M.Sc.), Goethe University Frankfurt
02/2010 – 09/2010
Exchange Semester, Universitat de València, Spain
09/2008 – 10/2012
Foreign Trade and International Management (B.A.), Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften (HAW), Hamburg
Work Experience
01/2017 - 07/2017
Research Intern, Research Data and Service Center (RDSC), Deutsche Bundesbank
10/2014 - 11/2014
Lecturer and Teaching Assistant, Vietnamese German University (VGU), Ho-Chi-Minh-City, Vietnam
02/2014 - 06/2014
Research Intern, Department ‘Labour, Education, Demography’, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI), Hamburg
09/2013 - 10/2014
Research Assistant, Chair of Industrial Organization, Goethe University Frankfurt
03/2011 - 09/2011
Intern, Strategic Data Analyst in der Abteilung ‘Sales Steering & Controlling’, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Los Angeles, US
Honors, Scholarships, Academic Prizes
2019
Foundation ‘Freunde und Förderer der Goethe-Universität’
2018
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration ‘Forschungstopf’
2017
European Patent Office Academic Research Programme (ARP), Head of Project Team ‘Financing Innovation in Europe’
2010
Erasmus Scholarship
Publications
Discussion Papers
(2024). Inventor Returns and Mobility, CESifo Working Paper, No. 11449.
- We show that firm and industry, rather than inventor and invention factors, explain more than half of the variation in inventor returns in administrative employer-inventor-patent-linked data from Germany. Between-firm variation in inventive rents is strongly associated with inventor mobility. Inventors are more likely to make a move just before a patent is filed than shortly thereafter and benefit from their move through a mobility-related marginal inventor return. Employers that pay inventor returns in excess of the expected return gain a favorable position in the market for inventive labor with subsequent increases in patent quality and quantity. Consistent with theoretical arguments, effect sizes also depend on employer-inventor technological complementarity, degree of competition, and invention quality.
- https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_11449.html
(2024). Generative AI and Firm-level Productivity: Evidence from Startup Funding Dynamics. DOI
- New general-purpose technologies have the potential to fundamentally change the dynamics of entrepreneurial firms. This paper provides new evidence on the impact of Generative AI on startup productivity: We argue that valuable but non-exclusive technological innovations can be a source of competitive advantage if entrepreneurs leverage them as complementary assets to their existing skill set. To show this, we exploit the release of GitHub Copilot as a quasi-natural experiment affecting software-developing startups. We find a significant reduction in the time-to-initial-funding, an early-stage productivity indicator, by about 20% relative to comparable startups. These effects are strongest for startups whose founders have more technological or managerial experience. Our analysis highlights the considerable implications of GenAI as a new resource available to decision-makers, shaping startup dynamics and productivity.
(2023). Intellectual Property as Loan Collateral. DOI
- This study provides a first comprehensive picture of the use of intellectual property (IP) as loan collateral, its determinants, and its effect on firm trajectories. Using novel administrative data, we exploit the French institutional setting and show that firms from diverse industries use selected trademarks (72%), patents (26%), and designs (2%) to secure loans. We find that IP pledges have large positive effects on debt financing, in particular for small, financially constrained firms. The results are robust to exogenous variation in the pledgeability of alternative collateral. Further, using IP as loan collateral is associated with sizable increases in firm-level growth.
(2022). Leveraging Intellectual Property: The Value of Harmonized Enforcement Regimes.
- We provide new evidence on how intellectual property (IP) rights support external debt financing by investigating exogenous variation in patent right enforcement. Deploying a unique, large-scale sample of European firms, we exploit the 2004 EU Enforcement Directive, a major legislative change strengthening IP rights across Europe, as identifying event. Results show that firms with valuable patent portfolios disproportionally increase debt financing by about 21%. Effects are particularly pronounced for private SMEs, ex-ante financially constrained firms, and in competitive environments. Adding previously undisclosed patent collateral information provides suggestive evidence that enhanced IP enforcement benefits debt financing beyond a mere collateral channel.
- Available at SSRN
- Earlier version published under the title: Leverage Intellectual Property: The Value of Harmonized Enforcement Regimes - 2019
(2022). Intellectual Property as Business Loan Collateral: A Taxonomy on Institutional and Economic Determinants. DOI
- Using intellectual property rights (IPR) as collateral to secure debt financing can form a promising strategy, in particular for small, financially constrained firms. Despite an ongoing shift to a more technology-based economy, the collateralizing of IPR is still trailing behind the use of traditional asset classes. In this paper, we develop a new taxonomy on the key determinants of using IPR as collateral. The taxonomy defines two pillars that govern the use of IPR collateral that distinguish between institutional and economic factors. The institutional pillar covers contract law, IPR registries, and banking regulation. We apply the taxonomy to the current legal and economic states in several industrialized economies to identify potential impediments to IPR-backed debt financing. The economic pillar constitutes the influence of IPR characteristics on the trade-off between the economic costs and benefits of collateralizing IPR. We propose that IPR collateral can have significant advantages regarding signaling, agency issues, and the creation of pledgable income. Based on these considerations we derive several testable hypotheses on the circumstances under which IPR collateral might be particularly well-suited to attract debt financing. Taken together, our taxonomy can be viewed as the foundation for future research on IPR as loan collateral for businesses.
(2019). Leverage Intellectual Property: The Value of Harmonized Enforcement Regimes, Proceedings of Paris December 2019 Finance Meeting EUROFIDAI - ESSEC 2019.
- This paper analyses the importance of intellectual property in determining capital structure decisions. We argue that firms can use their patent stock as collateral and thereby relax possible debt financing restrictions. Using data from the European Patent Office and balance sheet data of European companies, we find that larger and more valuable patent stocks lead to higher debt-ratios - controlling for well-established capital structure determinants. We further assess variation across as well as within industries and show that effects are mainly driven by tech-oriented and research intensive firms. Drawing on a legislative change in EU- law, allows us to establish a causal relationship between firms' patent portfolio and their use of debt. Results provide a new perspective on optimal capital structure decisions. From a policy perspective, our findings suggest to further harmonize enforcement rules on intellectual property to support financially constrained, innovative firms.
- Available at SSRN
- Later version published under the title: Leveraging Intellectual Property: The Value of Harmonized Enforcement Regimes - 2022
Presentations and Lectures
13.11.2023
The Marginal Income per Patent and the Mobility of Inventive Labor
Innovation Seminar, LMU
Location: Munich
13.10.2023
The Rise of Early-Stage Financing in the U.S. and Startup Performance
5th ZEW/CoDE Conference on the Dynamics of Entrepreneurship, ZEW Mannheim
Location: Mannheim
28.09.2023
The Rise of Early-Stage Financing in the U.S. and Startup Performance
26th Annual Conference on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and SMEs, TU Darmstadt
Location: Darmstadt
21.09.2023
The Rise of Early-Stage Financing in the U.S. and Startup Performance
26th Annual Meeting of the German Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (TIE), Goethe Universität Frankfurt
Location: Frankfurt
07.07.2023
The Rise of Early-Stage Financing in the U.S. and Startup Performance
7th Entrepreneurial Finance Association Conference (ENTFIN), University of Antwerp
Location: Antwerp, The Netherlands
20.06.2023
Intellectual Property as Loan Collateral
Barcelona Summer Forum, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics
Location: Barcelona, Spain
15.05.2023
The Formal Granting of Intellectual Property and External Financing
Strategy & Innovation Seminar, Question School of Business, Boston University
Location: Boston, USA
26.04.2023
The Formal Granting of Intellectual Property and External Financing
Strategy Seminar, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah
Location: Utah, USA
22.02.2023
The Formal Granting of Intellectual Property and External Financing
TPRI Brown Bag Seminar, Boston University
Location: Boston, USA
03.02.2023
The Formal Granting of Intellectual Property and External Financing
Workshop on Behavioral, Digital, and Financial Economics
Location: Hirschegg, Austria
17.01.2023
The Formal Granting of Intellectual Property and External Financing
Behavioral & Empirical Work In Progress (BEWIP) Seminar, TUM
Location: Munich
19.12.2022
Intellectual Property as Loan Collateral
8th Paris Financial Management Conference
Location: Paris, France
15.12.2022
Intellectual Property as Loan Collateral
20th Paris December Finance Meeting
Location: Paris, France
05.12.2022
The Formal Granting of Intellectual Property Rights and External Financing
Innovation Seminar, LMU
Location: Munich
03.11.2022
The Labor Economics of Inventing: Estimating the Marginal Income per Patent
9th ZEW/MaCCI Conference on the Economics of Innovation and Patenting (INNOPAT), ZEW Mannheim
Location: Mannheim
30.10.2022
Intellectual Property as Loan Collateral: Evidence from France
28th Annual Meeting of the German Finance Association, Philipps-Universität Marburg
Location: Marburg
15.09.2022
Intellectual Property as Loan Collateral: Evidence from France
17th Annual Conference of European Policy for Intellectual Property (EPIP), Cambridge University
Location: Cambrige, UK
13.07.2022
Intellectual Property as Loan Collateral: Evidence from France
TIME Seminar, Institute for Strategy, Technology and Organization (ISTO), LMU
Location: Munich
04.07.2022
Intellectual Property as Loan Collateral: Evidence from France,
16th Annual Meeting of The Risk, Banking and Finance Society
Location: Bari, Italy
10.03.2022
Intellectual Property as Loan Collateral
Seminar at the Department of Business and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics
Ort Bergen, Norway
12.01.2022
Intellectual Property as Loan Collateral
Finance Brown Bag Seminar, Goethe Universität Frankfurt
Location: Frankfurt
15.12.2021
Enabler, Accelerator, or Extractor? Venture Capitalists and Firm Patenting
Ideas Crunch, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Location: online
27. – 28.07.2021
Small and Vulnerable? Financial Constraints during the Financial Crisis
The 11th RCEA Money Macro & Finance Conference
Location: online
22.10.2020
Borrowing Against the (Un)Known: The Value of Patent Portfolios
2nd Conference on Behavioural Research in Finance, University of Giessen
Location: online
30.09.2020
Borrowing Against the (Un)Known: The Value of Patent Portfolios
Verein für Socialpolitik - Jahrestagung, University of Cologne
Location: online
09.09.2020
Borrowing Against the (Un)Known: The Value of Patent Portfolios
Corporate Finance Day, HEC Liège
Location: online
27.08.2020
Borrowing Against the (Un)Known: The Value of Patent Portfolios
13th Annual Conference on Innovation Economics, Northwestern University, Chicago, US
Location: online
25.08.2020
Borrowing Against the (Un)Known: The Value of Patent Portfolios
European Economics Association (EEA) Conference 2020, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands
Location: online
19.07.2020
No Pressure, No Diamonds? Financial Market Integration, Financing Constraints, and Their Quantity-Quality Effects on Innovation
Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) 2020 Conference, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Location: online
14.02.2020
On the History of the German Patent System
Goethe University Annual Colloquium
Location: Hirschegg, Austria
19.12.2019
Borrowing Against the (Un)Known
Paris Finance Meeting
Location: Paris, France
02.12.2019
Financing Innovation in Europe
Workshop, European Patent Office ARP Programme
Location: Munich
11.11.2019
Borrowing Against the (Un)Known
Innovation Workshop, LMU Munich
Location: Munich
29.10.2019
Intangibles and Leverage: The Role of Patent Portfolios
Seminar, Johannes-Gutenberg University of Mainz
Location: Mainz
09.2019
Financing Innovation in Europe
2019 Annual Conference of European Policy for Intellectual Property (EPIP), ETH Zurich
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
09.2019
Intangibles and Leverage: The Role of Patent Portfolios
20th Annual Symposium of the German Economic Association of Business Administration (GEABA), WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management
Location: Vallendar
08.2019
The Impact of Financial Resources on Corporate Invention
46th Annual Conference of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE), Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Location: Barcelona, Spain
06.2019
A Machine Learning Analysis of The Geographic Localization of Knowledge Flows
12th Annual Conference on Innovation Economics, Searle Center, Northwestern University
Location: Chicago, IL, US
06.2019
Intangibles and Leverage: The Role of Patent Portfolios
International Risk Management Conferenct, Bocconi Universiy
Location: Milan, Italy
05.2019
The Impact of Financial Resources on Corporate Invention
Comparative Analysis of Enterprise Data, University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
Location: Ann Arbour, MI, US
29.03.2019
The Impact of Financial Resources on Corporate Inventions
Seminar, New York University, Stern School of Business
Location: New York City, US
15.01.2019
The Impact of Financial Resources on Corporate Inventions
Seminar, Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies
Location: Regensburg
13.12.2018
Intangibles and Leverage: The Role of Patent Portfolios
Seminar, Goethe University Frankfurt
Location: Frankfurt
13.11.2018
The Impact of Financial Resources on Corporate Inventions
Seminar, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
Location: Munich
10.2018
The Impact of Financial Resources on Corporate Inventions
International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Economic Development, University of Bari
Location: Bari, Italy
07.2018
The Impact of Financial Resources on Corporate Inventions
6th International Ph.D. Meeting in Economics, University of Macedonia
Location: Thessaloniki, Greece
28.06.2018
Financing Innovation in Europe
Workshop, European Patent Office ARP Programme
Location: Munich
16.04.2018
The Impact of Financial Resources on Corporate Inventions
CBE Seminar, Norwegian School of Economics
Location: Bergen, Norway
10.02.2018
SME Finance During the Great Recession
Kolloquium, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
Location: Kleinwalsertal, Austria
Courses
Goethe University Frankfurt
Advanced Microeconomic Theory (Ph.D. Course)
Introduction to Industrial Organization
Microeconomics I
Economics of Innovation (undergraduate)
Seminar Supervision
“Economics of Digitalization” (2018)
“Business Strategy on the Road” (2017)
“Finance Meets the Real World” (2015)
Thesis Supervision
23 Bachelor and 4 Master Theses
Other Institutions and Guest Lectures
R&D and Intellectual Property (graduate– Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen)
Introduction to Competition Theory (MBA – Frankfurt School of Finance & Management)
Bank Management (MBA – Goethe Business School, Frankfurt)
Management I (undergraduate– Vietnamese German University)
Working Papers
The Impact of Financial Resources on Corporate Inventions
Intellectual Property and Leverage: The Role of Patent Portfolios
Disequilibrium in the Loan Market: Evidence from the Financial Crisis
Financial Integration, Financing Constraints, and Innovation in Europe: Is More Better?