Comparison of patenting trends and alliance patterns among countries with a majority religion: structural topic model and network analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT In our modern, technologically advanced society, 84% of the world’s population holds some form of religious faith. Our history has also witnessed religion and technology having an impact on each other. Assuming the underlying correlation between them, we question whether there are distinguished technological features among countries with strong religions. This study examines the technological trends in countries with a majority religion according to the dominant religion of each – namely, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism. We applied structural topic modelling (STM) and co-patent network analysis to patents from those countries registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office between 1965 and 2015. According to the STM results, technologies appear to reflect geographical environments, industrial concentrations, and investments led by governments and private sectors rather than religion. Moreover, countries with a majority religion in our study had mainly collaborated with the United States and European countries, regardless of religious tendency.