Kondratieff waves in global invention activity (1900–2008)

Our study has revealed an unusually clear K-wave pattern in the dynamics of the number of patents granted annually in the world per 1 million of the world population. In general we see rather steady increases in the number of patent grants per million during K-wave A-phases ("upswings"), and we observe its rather pronounced decreases during K-wave B-phases ("downswings"). This pattern apparently goes counter to the logic suggested by Kondratieff, Schumpeter and their followers who expected the increases in the invention activities during B-phases and their decreases during A-phases. However, this contradiction is shown to be only apparent. We suggest an explanation that accounts for the detected pattern without contradicting the essence of Kondratieff–Schumpeter theory.