Category Archives: ST&I indicators

A hybrid similarity measure method for patent portfolio analysis

Data Type, Patents, Research Examples, ST&I indicators

Similarity measures are fundamental tools for identifying relationships within or across patent portfolios. Many bibliometric indicators are used to determine similarity measures; for example, bibliographic coupling, citation and co-citation, and co-word distribution. This paper aims to construct a hybrid similarity measure method based on multiple indicators to analyze patent portfolios. Two models are proposed: categorical similarity and semantic similarity. The categorical similarity model emphasizes international patent classifications (IPCs), while the semantic similarity model emphasizes textual elements. We introduce fuzzy set routines to translate the rough technical (sub-) categories of IPCs into defined numeric values, and we calculate the categorical similarities between patent portfolios using membership grade vectors. In parallel, we identify and highlight core terms in a 3-level tree structure and compute the semantic similarities by comparing the tree-based structures. A weighting model is designed to consider: 1) the bias that exists between the categorical and semantic similarities, and 2) the weighting or integrating strategy for a hybrid method. A case study to measure the technological similarities between selected firms in China’s medical device industry is used to demonstrate the reliability our method, and the results indicate the practical meaning of our method in a broad range of informetric applications.

Highlights

  • An application that introduces fuzzy sets to transform IPCs to numeric values.
  • A 3-level tree structure that arranges terms hierarchically for similarity measure.
  • A study that applies similarity measure for technology mergers and acquisitions.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751157715302169

Author(s): Yi Zhang, Lining Shang, Lu Huang, Alan L. Porter, Guangquan Zhang, Jie Lu, Donghua Zhu
Organization(s): University of Technology Sydney, Beijing Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology
Source: Journal of Informetrics
Year: 2016

A measure of staying power: Is the persistence of emergent concepts more significantly influenced by technical domain or scale? (full-text)

Research Examples, ST&I indicators

This study advances a four-part indicator for technical emergence. While doing so it focuses on a particular class of emergent concepts—those which display the ability to repeatedly maintain an emergent status over multiple time periods. The authors refer to this quality as staying power and argue that those concepts which maintain this ability are deserving of greater attention. The case study we consider consists of 15 subdatatsets within the dye-sensitized solar cell framework. In this study the authors consider the impact technical domain and scale have on the behavior of persistently emergent concepts and test which of these has a greater influence.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11192-017-2342-x

For full-text view, http://rdcu.be/qfTB

Author(s): Stephen F. Carley, Nils C. Newman, Alan L. Porter, Jon G. Garner
Organization(s): Georgia Tech, Search Technology
Source: Scientometrics
Year: 2017

Patent information retrieval: approaching a method and analysing nanotechnology patent collaborations

Data Type, Patents, Research Examples, Research Type, ST&I indicators

Many challenges still remain in the processing of explicit technological knowledge documents such as patents. Given the limitations and drawbacks of the existing approaches, this research sets out to develop an improved method for searching patent databases and extracting patent information to increase the efficiency and reliability of nanotechnology patent information retrieval process and to empirically analyse patent collaboration. A tech-mining method was applied and the subsequent analysis was performed using Thomson data analyser software. The findings show that nations such as Korea and Japan are highly collaborative in sharing technological knowledge across academic and corporate organisations within their national boundaries, and China presents, in some cases, a great illustration of effective patent collaboration and co-inventorship. This study also analyses key patent strengths by country, organisation and technology.

OPEN ACCESS article. For Full-text, go to https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-017-2325-y

Author(s): Sercan Ozcan, Nazrul Islam
Organization(s): University of Portsmouth, University of Exeter
Source: Scientometrics
Year: 2017

Science-technology-industry correlative indicators for policy targeting on emerging technologies: exploring the core competencies and promising industries of aspirant economies

Research Examples, Research Type, ST&I indicators, ST&I policy, Strategic planning

This paper seeks to contemplate a sequence of steps in connecting the fields of science, technology and industrial products. A method for linking different classifications (WoS–IPC–ISIC concordance) is proposed. The ensuing concordance tables inherit the roots of Grupp’s perspective on science, technology, product and market. The study contextualized the linking process as it can be instrumental for policy planning and technology targeting. The presented method allows us to postulate the potential development of technology in science and industrial products. The proposed method and organized concordance tables are intended as a guiding tool for policy makers to study the prospects of a technology or industry of interest. Two perceived high potential technologies—traditional medicine and ICT—that were sought by two aspirant economies—Hong Kong and Malaysia—are considered as case studies for the proposed method. The selected cases provide us the context of what technological research is being pursued for both fundamental knowledge and new industries. They enable us to understand the context of policy planning and targeting for sectoral and regional innovation systems. While we note the constraints of using joint-publishing and joint-patenting data to study the core competencies of developing economies and their potential for development, we realize that the proposed method enables us to highlight the gaps between science and technology and the core competencies of the selected economies, as well as their prospects in terms of technology and product development. The findings provide useful policy implications for further development of the respective cases.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-017-2319-9

Author(s): Chan-Yuan Wong, Hon-Ngen Fung
Organization(s): University of Malaya
Source: Scientometrics
Year: 2017

The Diffusion of Military Technology

Research evaluation, Research Examples, Research Type, ST&I indicators

The impact of national defense research and development spending on overall innovation depends on the extent to which the knowledge and technologies generated by defense funding diffuse. This article uses an original data-set of patents assigned to defense-servicing organizations to investigate the diffusion of military technologies. Contrary to the predictions of the prevailing scholarship, I find no difference in the rate of diffusion between civilian and military technologies. Neither do military technologies assigned to government agencies diffuse at different rates than those assigned to firms. The overall technological experience of the patent assignee is found to be a positive predictor of the diffusion of military technologies. The effect of the prevailing intellectual property rights regime is ambivalent: when US patents are included in the sample, the effect of patent protection is positive, when the US is excluded, the effect is either non-significant or negative depending on the model specification that is utilized.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10242694.2017.1292203

Author(s): Jon Schmid
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Source: Defence and Peace Economics
Year: 2017

Nano-enabled Drug Delivery in Cancer Therapy: Literature Analysis Using the MeSH System

Future-oriented technology analysis, Research Examples, Research profiling, ST&I indicators

Biomedical literature provides abundant knowledge on R&D development and emerging themes and techniques to researchers and to enhance clinical treatment. Tracing research topic activity and researcher connections, and understanding evolving research landscapes, supports identification of research domain potential and informs R&D portfolio management. Methods: We offer a systematic approach to summarize biomedical research information compiled from the MEDLINE database. Selected MeSH qualifiers are applied as properties for clustering terms. Linkages among clusters are measured based on an object–attribute–value, relative research concentration. By arraying selected technical dimensions against each other, we enable identification and evaluation of latent connections. Results: 10354 MEDLINE records from 2000 to 2013 on nano-enabled drug delivery (NEDD) for cancer treatment are retrieved and analyzed. Seven topical clusters are generated with relatively clear boundaries. Elements with high relative research concentration but low number of records show emerging trends. And the concentrations’ decline indicates the universalization of drugs and nano components in cancer treatment. Conclusions: This systematic topical analysis process helps explore particular technological trends and potentials in biomedical areas. It combines an algorithm to reveal latent connections hidden in literature text content with expert judgement. From the standpoint of technology assessment, it provides researchers and administrators the ability to capture biomedical research dynamics.

http://www.eurekaselect.com/144824/article

Author(s): Tejraj M Aminabhavi, Jing Ma and Alan L Porter
Organization(s): Shree Dhanvantary Pharmacy College
Source: Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology
Year: 2016

A taxonomy of small firm technology commercialization

Research Examples, Research Type, ST&I indicators, ST&I policy, Strategic planning

This article proposes a taxonomy of business models used by small, highly innovative firms focused on technology commercialization. Such firms disproportionately contribute to technological change in the US economy. The firms operate across industries and use a variety of technology platforms. Exploratory factor analysis of keyword occurrence on firm websites generated a taxonomy comprising: research organization; development stage biosciences; highly specialized component supplier; specialized subcontractor; product solutions providers; and service solutions providers. This framework provides entrepreneurs and policy makers with an overview of new technology commercialization paths tailored to small, innovative firms.

http://icc.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/3/371.abstract?keytype=ref&ijkey=1U2ith4ApM9iH7y

Author(s): Dirk Libaers, Diana Hicks, and Alan L. Porter
Organization(s): University of Missouri, Georgia Institute of Technology
Source: Industrial and Corporate Change
Year: 2016

Semantic-Based Technology Trend Analysis

Future-oriented technology analysis, Research Examples, ST&I indicators, Tech mining,

Technology trend analysis offers a flexible instrument to understand both opportunity and competition for emerging technologies. Semantic information is used in Science, Technology & Innovation (ST&I) records which makes the technology trend analysis more challenging. This paper proposes a semantic-based approach for technology trend analysis through emphasizing Subject-Action-Object (SAO) structure, It also applies the trend analysis approach to extract technology information and identify and predict the trend of technology development more effectively. An empirical study on Graphene is completed to demonstrate the proposed trend analysis approach.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7383052&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D7383052

Author(s): Yang, Chao ; Zhu, Donghua ; Zhang, Guangquan
Organization(s): Beijing Institute of Technology, University of Technology Sydney
Source:  2015 10th International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Knowledge Engineering (ISKE)
Year: 2015

Corporate philanthropy and community involvement. Analysing companies from France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain

Research Examples, ST&I indicators

This paper analyses the philanthropic behaviour of companies listed on four stock markets: the IBEX 35 (Spain), CAC-40 (France), DAX-30 (Germany) and AEX-25 (Netherlands). A bibliometric method was used to obtain keywords related to corporate philanthropy in literature, while a qualitative content analysis was undertaken to obtain specific philanthropy-related words from company annual reports. 19 groups of words (codes) were defined, indicating the terms used by companies to express corporate philanthropy and community involvement, the forms they use to express such involvement, and the formulas chosen to channel their aid. The word analysis also gave information about the stakeholders that companies take into account when they become involved in community issues. Different hypotheses were stated to determine whether the use of words was related to country, firm size (revenues and employees) or industry. The use of probit regression also allowed us to obtain combinations of these variables that explained the probability of using every term together but not separately. The results indicated that the variables which most affected philanthropic codes were country and revenues. Conversely, the variables which least influenced philanthropic codes were number of employees and industry.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11135-015-0287-9

Author(s): Blanca de-Miguel-Molina , Vicente Chirivella-González, and Beatriz García-Ortega
Organization: Universitat Politècnica de València
Source: Quality & Quantity
Year: 2015

Graphene Research and Enterprise: Mapping Innovation and Business Growth in a Strategic Emerging Technology

CTI, novel source, Research Examples, Research Type, Science mapping, ST&I indicators

This paper presents the results of research to develop new data sources and methods that can be combined with existing information for real-time intelligence to understand and map enterprise development and commercialisation in a rapidly emerging and growing new technology. As a demonstration case, the study examines enterprise development and commercialisation strategies in graphene, focusing on a set of 65 graphenebased small and medium-sized enterprises located in 16 different countries. We draw on available secondary sources and bibliometric methods to profile developments in graphene. We then use computerised data mining methods and analytical techniques, including cluster and regression modelling, 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 became involved with graphene, the materials they target, whether they make equipment, and their orientation towards 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 SMEs. We show that the UK has a cohort of graphene-oriented SMEs that is signalling plans to develop intermediate graphene products that should have higher value in the marketplace. Our findings suggest that UK 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.

Author(s): Philip Shapira, Abdullah Gök, and Fatemeh Salehi Yazdi
Organization(s): Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, University of Manchester
Source: Nesta Working Paper Series
http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/graphene-research-and-enterprise-mapping-innovation-and-business-growth-strategic-emerging-technology
Year: 2015