Dear PV-Team

I am working on a research project where I need a proxy for innovation on firm level. As understood from the OECD manual, the inventor of a patent has to be a natural person, i.e. a firm cannot be listed as the inventor. Hence, to get patents on firm level one can look at the  number of patents an organization has connected to their name by looking at who is the applicant of a patent or by looking at who it is assigned to. 

What is the difference in those two methods? 

Thank you for your help!

Best

Vanessa