Category Archives: Strategic planning

Technology Early Warning Model: A New Approach Based on Patent Data

CTI, Future-oriented technology analysis, Research Examples, Research Type, Strategic planning

With the development of technology, more and more technical issues have been exposed, such as technical disputes, technical barriers and technical crisis. Thus, it is necessary to warn enterprises about technical deviation and predict future technology crises. Patent data can contain much information about technologies and would be useful in this setting. This paper proposes a technology early warning model based on patent data. This model helps enterprises analyse the technical crisis level and trends from four different perspectives (technical stability, technical monopoly, technical security and technical prospects).

http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1437/ipamin2015_paper4.pdf

Author(s): Ganlu Sun, Ying Guo, Fan Yang
Organization(s): Beijing Institute of Technology
Source: Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Patent Mining and
its Applications (IPAMIN)
Year: 2015

Biomedical properties and potentiality of Lippia microphylla Cham. and its essential oils

Research Examples, Research profiling, Research Type, Strategic planning, Tech mining

Lippia microphylla Cham. (Verbanaceae) is an endemic underexploited Brazilian vegetal. This work reviewed the biological potentialities of Lippia microphylla, emphasizing the properties of essential oils (EOs) and analyzed scientific indicators about genus Lippia and L. microphylla. Databases from 1948 to the present were searched and a software (Vantage Point 7.1) associated with Derwent Innovation Index was used to identify the indicators of the genus Lippia, and biological activities and compounds in the L. macrophylla species. Ethnopharmacological records report use of L. microphylla leaves to treat gastrointestinal disorders, influenza, bronchitis, cough, nasal congestion and sinusitis during vaporization, whose aromatic volatile oils are rich in monoterpenes, especially cineole, terpineol and thymol. Other EOs have larvicidal activity on Aedes aegypti larvae, and antifungal, antibacterial and cytotoxic and antitumor action on human and murine cancer cells. Brazil is the country with more articles about Lippia species, but it deposited only 9 patents since 1993. Most of the publications about L. microphylla are concentrated in food and chemical sciences. This bioprospection helps to choice areas of interest for capital investment and to give support for Brazilian Institutions to establish cooperation and improve technological impact at the point of view of creation and innovation.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4579491/

Author(s): Evelyne Rolim Braun Simões, Evelyne Alves Santos, Maria Carolina de Abreu, Jurandy do Nascimento Silva, Nárcia Mariana Fonseca Nunes, Marcília Pinheiro da Costa, Otília Deusdênia Loiola Pessoa, Cláudia Pessoa, Paulo Michel Pinheiro Ferreira
Organization(s):Universidade Federal do Ceará, Universidade Federal do Piauí
Source: Journal of Intercultural Ethnopharmacology
Year: 2015

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT TECHNOLOGY MONITORING IN THE SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY SEGMENT

Patents, Research profiling, Research Type, S&T lit, Strategic planning, , , ,

The practice of using technology monitoring to keep track of technological advances is increasingly valued, and its systematic use is understood as essential to business in the new knowledge economy. The structuring of the technological monitoring process has become a growing need for organizations to keep up with the significant and rapid changes of technology in their core business and to better understand its business impact in order to support the decision‐making process of companies. An effective technology monitoring process should be based on a company’s business needs and on the information required for the fitting to strategic guidelines. This encompasses the right selection of databases, the establishment of the search strategy and keywords to be applied, the screening of the retrieved information, the analysis and consolidation of this information, and the right format and display of the relevant data and future trends to help the management decision. Photovoltaic solar energy reached the capacity of 139 GW in 2013, being an expanding market with a high number of government funding projects in the United States and in the European Union. Therefore, a survey was carried out about the new technologies and related business scenarios for this kind of power generation, using technology monitoring tools. Energy generation via photovoltaic cells has been known for a long time, since the Becquerel studies in the XIX century. Solar photovoltaic energy enables the generation of distributed electric energy, preventing long transmission and distribution lines, besides being a silent energy source that can be easily integrated into buildings without the need of additional installation areas; for these reasons, its application is being fostered by government programs.   The main step of the technology monitoring methodology is discussed, and the peculiarities and difficulties encountered in the process are pointed out. A survey of the scientific and technological developments in this area of knowledge was carried out, using patents and scientific papers with the time frame from the beginning of 2008 to the end of 2013. The lessons learned in this process and the major facilitating factors and difficulties for the retrieval, screening and analysis of the information collected are reported.

Author(s): Luiz Fernando Leite , Flavia Maria Lins Mendes, and Suzanne De Oliveira Rodrigues Schumacher
Organization: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Source: IAMOT 2015 Conference Proceedings http://iamot2015.com/2015proceedings/documents/P310.pdf
Year: 2015

Patento-scientometric indicators for the selection of projects by investment funds

CTI, Patents, Research Examples, Strategic planning,

Purpose
This paper aims to assess a method that applies scientometric and patentometric indicators in the selection process of projects by seed capital funds. There is increasing interest in technology-based enterprises, for their capacity to contribute to economic and social development. Nevertheless, in practice, there is some difficulty in assessing non-financial criteria associated with technology for the purposes of choosing investment opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach
The literature has presented various methods to instrumentalize the process of evaluation and selection of investment projects. This study focuses on an enterprise that received an investment by the largest seed capital fund in Brazil, to assess to what extent scientific and technological indicators can contribute to understanding the market potential of the firm’s technology.

Findings
The results show that the use of scientometric and patentometric indicators favors the process of judging non-financial criteria, in particular those related to technology, market, divestment and team.

Originality/value
The originality of this paper is in the evaluation of a patento-scientometric approach for the selection process of projects by seed capital funds.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/VINE-10-2014-0056

Author(s): Gustavo da Silva Motta, Rogério Hermida Quintella, Pauli Adriano de Almada Garcia
Organization(s):Universidade Federal Fluminense, Universidade Federal da Bahia
Source: VINE
Year: 2015

Green Energy Prospects: Trends and Challenges

Biz lit, Future-oriented technology analysis, novel source, Patents, Research Examples, Research Type, S&T lit, Strategic planning,

The transition of energy systems moving from non-renewable fossil-nuclear to renewable sources is a key challenge of climate mitigation and sustainable development. Green energy technologies can contribute to solutions of global problems such as climate change, growth of energy consumption, depletion of natural resources, negative environmental impacts, and energy security. In this article the prospective directions of technology development in green energy are studied and analyzed using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative research involves participation of key experts in the field of green energy, while quantitative analysis includes collecting and processing data from different information sources (scientific publications, patents, news, Foresight projects, conferences, projects of international organizations, dissertations, and presentations) with a help of Vantage Point software. In addition, key challenges for green energy as well as its relationships with other technological and non-technological areas are identified and briefly described on the basis of expert and analytical results.

http://www.igi-global.com/article/green-energy-prospects/129675

Author(s): S. Filippov, N. Mikova, and A. Sokolova
Organization(s): Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Higher School of Economics
Source: International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development (IJSESD)
Year: 2015

Astaxanthin Research Trends: Bibliometrical Analysis of the International Studies of Astaxanthin

Research Examples, Research profiling, Strategic planning

In recent decades, the applied research of astaxanthin has made significant progress since it is highly valued and promising in its application. Using the databases of Derwent Innovations Index (DII) as the sources, we retrieved and analyzed the patents on the astaxanthin. The analytical tools of Thomson Data Analyzer (TDA), and Thomson Innovation platform were used for data mining. We analyzed the trends of patents applications, life spans, and distribution of patents, core patents and the patents family about astaxanthin by bibliometric approach. This paper reveals the trends of astaxanthin research in the world and helps the researchers and corporations in China to understand the opportunities and challenges to develop the new astaxanthin technology. The results showed that the research of astaxanthin mainly focused on the fields that astaxanthin was applied as a feed additives for fish and a natural nutrient for diseases prevention and control. Japan, the United States, and China ranked as the top three countries that claimed the priority of the patent applications of astaxanthin. The numbers of patent applications of astaxanthin from Japan prevailed over any other countries. From the distribution of the patents, DuPont and Tosoh Corporation are mainly interested in the synthesis of the target compounds by fermentation and enzyme and the composition of microorganisms or enzymes, while other top Japanese companies mainly focused on products with the medical, dental or toilet use, the food preparation or processing of food and nonalcoholic beverages and the specific treatment of active compounds or pharmaceutical formulations.

http://journal.kib.ac.cn/EN/abstract/abstract3403.shtml

Author(s): WANG Chun-Ming, XU Yang-Qi, YANG Ya, DU Ning, and YANG Zhi-Ping
Organization(s): Chengdu Branch of National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Source: Plant Diversity and Resources
Year: 2015

Mining research trends with anomaly detection models: the case of social computing research

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

We proposed in this study to use anomaly detection models to discover research trends. The application was illustrated by applying a rule-based anomaly detector (WSARE), which was typically used for biosurveillance purpose, in the research trend analysis in social computing research. Based on articles collected from SCI-EXPANDED and CPCI-S databases during 2000 to 2013, we found that the number of social computing studies went up significantly in the past decade, with computer science and engineering among the top important subjects. Followed by China, USA was the largest contributor for studies in this field. According to anomaly detected by the WSARE, social computing research gradually shifted from its traditional fields such as computer science and engineering, to the fields of medical and health, and communication, etc. There was an emerging of various new subjects in recent years, including sentimental analysis, crowdsourcing and e-health. We applied an interdisciplinary network evolution analysis to track changes in interdisciplinary collaboration, and found that most subject categories closely collaborate with subjects of computer science and engineering. Our study revealed that, anomaly detection models had high potentials in mining hidden research trends and may provided useful tools in the study of forecasting in other fields.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-015-1559-9

Author(s): Qing Cheng, Xin Lu, Zhong Liu, Jincai Huang
Organization(s): National University of Defense Technology
Source: Scientometrics
Year: 2015

Forecasting the Big Services Era: Novel Approach Combining Statistical Methods, Expertise and Technology Roadmapping

Future-oriented technology analysis, Research Examples, Strategic planning

This paper aims at proposing a novel approach to gathering and structuring information concerning an emerging technology, generating a relevant profile, identifying its past evolution, forecasting the short and medium-term evolution and integrating all of the elements graphically into a hybrid roadmap. The approach combines four families of technological forecasting methods, namely: Statistical Methods in terms of Bibliometrics and Data Mining; Trend Analysis; Descriptive Methods in terms of Technological Roadmapping; and Expertise. Its future application to forecast the evolution of emerging IT trends in current entities, which are creating the Big Services era, is proposed as future work.

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-14078-0_42#

Author(s): Iñaki Bildosola, Rosa Rio-Bélver, Ernesto Cilleruelo
Organization(s): University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
Source: Enhancing Synergies in a Collaborative Environment [Springer International Publishing] Lecture Notes in Management and Industrial Engineering
Year: 2015

Why do technology firms publish scientific papers? The strategic use of science by small and midsize enterprises in nanotechnology

Research Examples, ST&I policy, Strategic planning

In the emerging technology domain of nanotechnology, a significant portion of small and midsize enterprises contribute to the scientific literature by publishing their research and development results. However, while considerable attention has been paid to patenting by small and midsize technology firms, the underlying business motivations for such firms to publish scientific papers are not well understood. This paper investigates the scientific publishing patterns of smaller firms engaged in nanotechnology and the factors that underlie this phenomenon. Based on an analysis of 85 US small and midsize enterprises with a minimum of four nanotechnology patents or publications, we test three hypotheses about corporate publishing: reputational gains, absorptive capacity, and strategic spillovers. We find that the small and midsize firms in our sample are more likely to publish when their work is associated with public science and when it involves a greater technological focus, but having a university collaborator is not a significant factor. The results from this study of nanotechnology enterprises suggest that small and midsize technology firms selectively manage and disclose their research based on internal developmental and capacity drivers.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10961-014-9391-6

Author(s): Yin Li, Jan Youtie and Philip Shapira
Organization(s): Georgia Institute of Technology, MIoIR-University of Manchester
Source: The Journal of Technology Transfer
Year: 2015

Patent Analysis of Shale Gas Technology in China and Implications for its Exploitation

Data Type, Patents, Research Examples, Research profiling, Research Type, Strategic planning

China has made significant progress in developing new energy sources such as solar energy and wind power in recent decades. However, commercial exploitation of shale gas in China is in the very early stages, in sharp contrast to that in the United States. Patents related to shale gas exploitation are analyzed by using data mining and patent maps. The findings show that shale gas exploitation involves complex technologies that technological accumulation is a long-term process. Despite decades of rapid growth, significant technology gaps still exist for Chinese enterprises and technological factors could be the bottleneck of China’s exploitation of its massive shale gas resources. Meanwhile, foreign enterprises have applied for a large number of patents in China. Chinese enterprises might have to obtain licenses from foreign patent holders, which could have important implications for shale gas exploitation in China.

Author(s): Mier Zhang, Wei Guo and Zhen Lei
Organization(s): Dalian University of Technology and Pennsylvania State University
Source: Energy Technology
Year: 2014