Knowledge Flows, Patent Citations and the Impact of Science on Technology

Technological innovation depends on knowledge developed by scientific research. The num-ber of citations made in patents to the scientific literature has been suggested as an indicator of this process of transfer of knowledge from science to technology. We provide an intersec-toral insight into this indicator, by breaking down patent citations into a sector-to-sector ma-trix of knowledge flows. We then propose a method to analyze this matrix and construct vari-ous indicators of science intensity of sectors, and the pervasiveness of knowledge flows. Our results indicate that the traditional measure of the number of citations to science literature per patent captures important aspects intersectoral knowledge flows, but that other aspects are not captured. In particular, we show that high science intensity implies that sectors are net suppli-ers of knowledge in the economic sector, but that science intensity does not say much about pervasiveness of either knowledge use or knowledge supply by sectors. We argue that these results are related to the specific and specialized nature of knowledge.Knowledge, Input-Output Analysis, Knowledge Flow Matrices, Science-to-Technology Transfer, Patents

Knowledge for a warmer world: a patent analysis of climate change adaptation technologies

Technologies can help strengthen the resilience of our economy against existential climate-risks. We investigate climate change adaptation technologies (CCATs) in US patents to understand (1) historical patterns and drivers of innovation; (2) scientific and technological requirements to develop and use CCATs; and (3) CCATs' potential technological synergies with mitigation. First, in contrast to mitigation, innovation in CCATs only slowly takes off, indicating a relatively low awareness of investors for solutions to cope with climate risks. Historical trends in environmental regulation, energy prices, and public support can be associated with patenting in CCATs. Second, CCATs form two main clusters: science-intensive ones in agriculture, health, and monitoring technologies; and engineering-intensive ones in coastal, water, and infrastructure technologies. Analyses of technology-specific scientific and technological knowledge bases inform directions for how to facilitate advancement, transfer and use of CCATs. Lastly, CCATs show strong technological complementarities with mitigation as more than 25% of CCATs bear mitigation benefits. While not judging about the complementarity of mitigation and adaptation in general, our results suggest how policymakers can harness these technological synergies to achieve both goals simultaneously

The diffusion of energy technologies. Evidence from renewable, fossil, and nuclear energy patents

Technology innovation is widely recognised as a critical means in tackling climate change and fulfilling energy policy objectives. The objective of this paper is twofold: first, to provide a descriptive analysis of innovation in energy technology across countries and sectors and over time; and second, to explore the determining factors of patented knowledge diffusion of energy technologies by distinguishing between renewables and other energy patents, i.e., fossil and nuclear patents) thorough a regression analysis. The data employed in this paper consists of an original database on renewables and other energy patents applied by firms in the period 1990–2015 and contained in PATSTAT. By drawing on patent citations as an indicator of knowledge diffusion and focusing on characteristics extracted from patent documents, a set of econometric models is estimated. Our results show that those patents containing more citations to previous scientific literature and patents attain greater diffusion. Joint patents with other firms or universities exert a negligible effect on technology regarding renewables. Coownership with universities has a negative effect on the diffusion of other types of energy technology. Several policy implications can be determined from our results: for example, the justification for policies oriented towards enhancing the incorporation of scientific knowledge and co-inventorship in energy innovation

The emergence of new technologies in the ICT field: main actors, geographical distribution and knowledge sources

This paper examines the emergence of technologies, applications and platforms in the area of information and communication technologies (ITC), using patent data. It detects new technologies/applications/products using patents' abstracts and describes them looking at their degree of "hybridisation", in terms of technological domains and knowledge base, at the role of firms in driving the innovation activity, and at the geographical distribution of the innovation. The results show that in emerging technologies in ITC are more concentrated across technological classes and across firms than non emerging ones, and that this pattern is invariant across major countries. Furthermore, a preliminary analysis on patent citations show that in emerging technologies knowledge sources are more specific in terms of technological classes and more dispersed in terms of cited institutions. Also there is evidence of a role for universities and public research centres as sources of knowledge

An entropy-based indicator system for measuring the potential of patents in technological innovation: rejecting moderation

© 2017, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary. How to evaluate the value of a patent in technological innovation quantitatively and systematically challenges bibliometrics. Traditional indicator systems and weighting approaches mostly lead to “moderation” results; that is, patents ranked to a top list can have only good-looking values on all indicators rather than distinctive performances in certain individual indicators. Orienting patents authorized by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), this paper constructs an entropy-based indicator system to measure their potential in technological innovation. Shannon’s entropy is introduced to quantitatively weight indicators and a collaborative filtering technique is used to iteratively remove negative patents. What remains is a small set of positive patents with potential in technological innovation as the output. A case study with 28,509 USPTO-authorized patents with Chinese assignees, covering the period from 1976 to 2014, demonstrates the feasibility and reliability of this method

Why Do Some Patents Get Licensed While Others Do Not

To understand why some patents get licensed and others do not, we estimate a portfolio of firm- and patent-level determinants for why a particular licensor’s patent was licensed over all technologically similar patents held by other licensors. Using data for licensed biopharmaceutical patents, we build a set of alternate patents that could have been licensed-in using topic modeling techniques. This provides a more sophisticated way of controlling for patent characteristics and analyzing the attractiveness of a licensor and the characteristics of the patent itself. We find that patents owned by licensors with technological prestige, experience at licensing, and combined technological depth and breadth have a greater chance at being chosen by licensees. This suggests that a licensor’s standing and organizational learning rather than the quality of its patent alone influence the success of outward licensing

Post-Issue Patent "Quality Control": A Comparative Study of US Patent Re-examinations and European Patent Oppositions

We report the results of the first comparative study of the determinants and effects of patent oppositions in Europe and of re-examinations on corresponding patents issued in the United States. The analysis is based on a dataset consisting of matched EPO and US patents. Our analysis focuses on two broad technology categories - biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors and computer software. Within these fields, we collect data on all EPO patents for which oppositions were filed at the EPO. We also construct a random sample of EPO patents with no opposition in these technologies. We match these EPO patents with the 'equivalent' US patents covering the same invention in the United States. Using the matched sample of USPTO and EPO patents, we compare the determinants of opposition and of re-examination. Our results indicate that valuable patents are more likely to be challenged in both jurisdictions. But the rate of opposition at the EPO is more than thirty times higher than the rate of re-examination at the USPTO. Moreover, opposition leads to a revocation of the patent in about 41 percent of the cases, and to a restriction of the patent right in another 30 percent of the cases. Re-examination results in a cancellation of the patent right in only 12.2 percent of all cases. We also find that re-examination is frequently initiated by the patentholders themselves.

A hybrid method to trace technology evolution pathways: a case study of 3D printing

© 2017, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary. Whether it be for countries to improve the ability to undertake independent innovation or for enterprises to enhance their international competitiveness, tracing historical progression and forecasting future trends of technology evolution is essential for formulating technology strategies and policies. In this paper, we apply co-classification analysis to reveal the technical evolution process of a certain technical field, use co-word analysis to extract implicit or unknown patterns and topics, and employ main path analysis to discover significant clues about technology hotspots and development prospects. We illustrate this hybrid approach with 3D printing, referring to various technologies and processes used to synthesize a three-dimensional object. Results show how our method offers technical insights and traces technology evolution pathways, and then helps decision-makers guide technology development