Patenting and Early Industrialization in Norway, 1860-1914. Was there a Linkage?

The Norwegian patent system was formally established in 1839. For many years the interest in the patent institution and in patenting was moderate. The first real increase in patenting occurred in the 1870s and 80s. The paper will examine and analyse the development in patenting, and the patent institution (legislation, administration) from about this period until 1914. An explicit focus of the analysis is the relationship between patenting and industrialization. There has been an issue among Norwegian economic historians if or when there was an industrial breakthrough in Norway. So far, patents, patent policy and the role of the patent institution have not been related to this question. This paper will therefore investigate in which way the system was developed to stimulate modernization and industrialization.