Category Archives: Data Type

Big Data and Business: Tech Mining to Capture Business Interests and Activities around Big Data

Biz lit, Data Type, Research Examples

Innovations around “Big Data” can be characterized in terms of rapid technology development and deployment dynamics. For this purpose, combining “tech mining” (extraction of usable intelligence) from publication and patent databases with tech mining of business-related databases can elucidate activities and interests of business communities regarding Big Data innovation pathways. In this paper, we focus on commercially oriented databases — ABI/INFORM as a source from which to extract business intents. We select the database to help gauge “hot topics” in industry with regard to Big Data. Our results show that certain types of firms can be clustered into thematic groups relating to Big Data discussions and activities. In the paper we demonstrate that such analyses can illuminate themes being pursued by businesses. Like social media analyses, this text mining can provide useful intelligence to inform more in-depth investigation mobilizing other data sources and techniques.
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7723686/

Author(s):  Ying Huang ; Jan Youtie ; Alan L. Porter ; Douglas K.R. Robinson ; Scott W. Cunningham ; Donghua Zhu
Organization(s): Beijing Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology
Source: 2016 IEEE International Conferences on Big Data and Cloud Computing (BDCloud), Social Computing and Networking (SocialCom), Sustainable Computing and Communications (SustainCom) (BDCloud-SocialCom-SustainCom)
Year: 2016

Text mining to gain technical intelligence for acquired target selection: A case study for China’s computer numerical control machine tools industry

CTI, Data Type, Patents, Research Examples, Research Type

Technology strategy plays an increasingly important role in today’s Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activities. Informing that strategy with empirical intelligence offers great potential value to R&D managers and technology policy makers. This paper proposes a methodology, based on patent analysis, to extract technical intelligence to identify M&A target technologies and evaluate relevant target companies to facilitate M&A target selection. We apply the term clumping process and a trend analysis together with policy and market information to profile present R&D status and capture future development signals and trends in order to grasp a range of significant domain-based technologies. Furthermore, a comparison between a selected acquirer and leading players is used to identify significant technologies and sub-technologies for specific strategy-oriented technology M&A activities. Finally, aiming to recommend appropriate M&A target companies, we set up an index-based system to evaluate the acquired target candidates from both firms-side perspective and target firm-side perspective and differentially weigh for specific M&A situations. We provide an empirical study in the field of computer numerical control machine tools (CNCMT) in China to identify technology M&A targets for an emerging Chinese CNCMT company — Estun Automation under different M&A strategies.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162516305364

Author(s): Tingting Ma, Yi Zhang, Lu Huang , Lining Shang, Kangrui Wang, Huizhu Yu, Donghua Zhu
Organization(s):  Beijing Wuzi University; Beijing Institute of Technology
Source: Technological Forecasting and Social Change
Year: 2016

Climate Change and Our Future: Anticipating Trends and Challenges Using Media Data

Data Type, novel source, Research Examples

This paper proposes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the future perspectives of climate change. First, it analyzes the possibilities of using the media as an information source for anticipating trends and challenges in this area through exploring the topics that have been actively discussed in the news in the recent 5 years. Second, qualitative and quantitative approaches are combined in this study in order to identify trends of different categories: social, technological, economic, environmental, political and values/culture. It allows integrating the results of trends monitoring obtained from qualitative and quantitative sources and create a complex map of trends. Qualitative approach is based on the literature review and consultations with the experts, while quantitative analysis includes collecting the news from Factiva database and processing it in Vantage Point software using bibliometric analysis, natural language processing, statistical analysis and principal component analysis. The results shown that 58% of trends were validated by the news and its contribution to the final trends list accounts for 25% on average, which means that the media can be considered as a useful additional data source for validating and updating trends. The results of this multidisciplinary study can be of interest to researchers, economists, business representatives and policy makers that are involved in the climate change related activities.

Author(s): Nadezhda Mikova
Organization(s): National Research University Higher School of Economics
Source: Higher School of Economics Research Paper No. WP BRP 65/STI/2016.
Year: 2016

Building a View of the Future of Antibiotics Through the Analysis of Primary Patents

Data Type, Patents, Research Examples, Research profiling, Research Type

The primary patent application of a new drug is the application that claims the chemical structure of that new compound and is usually the first patent filled regarding that new drug. Therefore, the analysis of the recent primary patents in a therapeutic group reflects the results of the research toward finding new compounds and allows building a view of the future of that therapeutic class. The identification of the primary patents is challenging and requires data treatment, visualization, and analysis tools. In order to address this matter, this paper presents a method for gathering and analyzing the primary patent applications for new antibiotics using the VantagePoint software. This therapeutic class was chosen due to the continuous rise of resistant bacteria, the critical need for new antibiotics that, combined with the lack new drugs in the market, leads to an urgent need for public and private policies to improve research in the field. The method resulted in 1333 primary patent applications of new antibiotics that were analyzed regarding the discovery strategy, the chemical classes, and mechanisms of action and according to the bacteria for which they are active. This analysis was made using different VantagePoint resources and allowed view of the new compounds that might reach the market in the future.

Author(s): Cristina d’Urso de Souza Mendes and Adelaide Maria de Souza Antunes
Organization(s): Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI)
Source: Anticipating Future Innovation Pathways Through Large Data Analysis pp 303-320
Year: 2016

Graphene enterprise: mapping innovation and business development in a strategic emerging technology

novel source, Research Examples

This paper explores enterprise development and commercialization in the field of graphene. Firm characteristics and relationships, value chain positioning, and factors associated with product entry are examined for a set of 65 graphene-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises located in 16 different countries. As well as secondary sources and bibliometric methods to profile developments in graphene, we use computerized data mining and analytical techniques, including cluster and regression modeling, to identify patterns from publicly available online information on enterprise web sites. We identify groups of graphene small and medium-sized enterprises differentiated by how they are involved with graphene, the materials they target, whether they make equipment, and their orientation toward science and intellectual property. In general, access to finance and the firms’ location are significant factors that are associated with graphene product introductions. We also find that patents and scientific publications are not statistically significant predictors of product development in our sample of graphene enterprises. We further identify a cohort of graphene-oriented firms that are signaling plans to develop intermediate graphene products that should have higher value in the marketplace. Our findings suggest that policy needs to ensure attention to the introduction and scale-up of downstream intermediate and final graphene products and associated financial, intermediary, and market identification support. The paper demonstrates novel data methods that can be combined with existing information for real-time intelligence to understand and map enterprise development and commercialization in a rapidly emerging and growing new technology.

for full-text, http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11051-016-3572-1

Author(s): Philip Shapira, Abdullah Gök, Fatemeh Salehi
Organization(s): Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (University of Manchester)
Source: Journal of Nanoparticle Research
Year: 2016

Case study of patents related to captopril, Squibb’s first blockbuster

Patents, Research Examples, Research profiling

Arterial hypertension affects over one billion people around the world, making the prevention and treatment of this disease vital. Despite the efforts made to develop new antihypertensive drugs, few new therapies have become available. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors have heralded major steps forward in the treatment of arterial hypertension and cardiovascular diseases since the first compound of this class, captopril, was approved for clinical use in 1981.

In this review, the authors investigated the patent documents that cite the priority patent for captopril, Squibb’s first blockbuster, or any other patent from its patent family. The documents were classified into the following: new compounds, new compositions, treatment, process (preparation of a compound), use of a compound, and process for the preparation of an intermediate. Therefore, the readers can identify potential innovations in the field.

The pharmaceutical sector has attempted to provide significant technological developments on anti-hypertensive drugs based on the patenting of captopril, including the development of new compositions further comprising an ACE inhibitor and other antihypertensive agent, along with dual action compounds, novel molecules with dual activity. The target is to find a new agent with better blood pressure-lowering efficacy, improved safety and good tolerability profile.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13543776.2016.1227321

Author(s): Adelaide Maria de Souza Antunes, Rafaela Di Sabato Guerrante, Jorge de Paula Costa Ávila, Flavia Maria Lins Mendes
Organization(s): Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)/National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI-Brazil)
Source: Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents
Year: 2016

Xylose utilization in ethanol production: a patent landscape

Patents, Research Examples, Research profiling

Bioethanol is considered as one of the best alternatives to fossil fuels as unwanted biomass is converted into fuel ethanol. As there is increasing demand for fuel ethanol, researchers have started looking for some better ways to produce ethanol. In light of the present scenario, we have attempted to develop a global patent landscape view of xylose utilization in ethanol production. Our country-specific patent analysis has revealed that most of the research on xylose-utilizing ethanol production is carried out in the USA followed by China and Sweden. Moreover, it has been found that more patent applications/grants have been claimed for processes, followed by recombinant strains. Patent publication trends for genes and enzymes have shown that most of the research is focused on the xylA gene and xylulokinase. Assignee patenting trends suggest that Du Pont is the major player in xylose-utilizing ethanol production research. Additionally, analysis based on micro-organisms used in xylose-utilizing ethanol production revealed that most of the research has been performed using Saccharomyces cerevisiae to enhance the ethanol yields.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bbb.1664/full

Author(s): Pratap Devarapalli, Nishad Deshpande, Rajkumar R Hirwani
Organization(s): CSIR-Unit for Research and Development of Information Products
Source: Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining
Year: 2016

Leveraging patent landscape analysis and IP competitive intelligence for competitive advantage

CTI, Patents, Research Examples, Research Type

Patent landscape and the accompanying IP competitive intelligence involves understanding and anticipating the competitive environment within which a company operates. More specifically, IP competitive intelligence highlights emerging IP risks, provides patent portfolio benchmarking, monitors competitor technology development efforts, and predicts commercialization of technology.

This paper provides a framework for patent landscape and IP competitive intelligence as driven by strategic intent. This paper advocates the benefits of both “quantitative” statistical analysis and “qualitative” human intelligence for IP competitive intelligence. Moreover, this paper defines four Levels of IP analysis with pruned examples for effective competitive intelligence.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0172219016000193

Author: Yateen R. Pargaonkar
Organization: Chevron Energy Technology Company
Source: World Patent Information
Year: 2016

How Does National Scientific Funding Support Emerging Interdisciplinary Research: A Comparison Study of Big Data Research in the US and China

Data Type, Funding, Interdisciplinarity, Research Examples, Research Type

How do funding agencies ramp-up their capabilities to support research in a rapidly emerging area? This paper addresses this question through a comparison of research proposals awarded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) in the field of Big Data. Big data is characterized by its size and difficulties in capturing, curating, managing and processing it in reasonable periods of time. Although Big Data has its legacy in longstanding information technology research, the field grew very rapidly over a short period. We find that the extent of interdisciplinarity is a key aspect in how these funding agencies address the rise of Big Data. Our results show that both agencies have been able to marshal funding to support Big Data research in multiple areas, but the NSF relies to a greater extent on multi-program funding from different fields. We discuss how these interdisciplinary approaches reflect the research hot-spots and innovation pathways in these two countries.

FULL-TEXT at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154509

Author(s): Ying Huang, Yi Zhang, Jan Youtie, Alan L. Porter, Xuefeng Wang
Organization(s): Beijing Institute of Technology; Georgia Institute of Technology
Source: PLoS ONE
Year: 2016

Identifying target for technology mergers and acquisitions using patent information and semantic analysis

Data Type, Patents, Research Examples, Strategic planning

Technology plays an increasingly important role in today’s enterprise competition. Technology mergers and acquisitions (Tech M&A), as an effective way to acquire external technology resources rapidly, have attracted attention from researchers because of their potential realization of value through synergy. A big challenge that faces corporate managers and government policy makers is how to identify the appropriate target to support effective technology integration. In this study, we develop a model of target selection of Tech M&A from the perspective of technology relatedness and R&D capability. We present the results relating to M&A in the field of cloud computing in China.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=7273128

Author(s): Lu Huang, Lining Shang, Kangrui Wang, Alan L Porter, and Yi Zhang
Organization(s): Beijing Institute of Technology
Source: 2015 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology
Year: 2015