Effective Identification of Technological Opportunities for Radical Inventions Using International Patent Classification: Application of Patent Data Mining

Abstract

Identifying technological opportunities early on is critical for the development of radical inventions (RIs). Patents are recognized as one of the most reliable resources for identifying technological opportunities. In line with this, this study aimed to suggest a novel approach for the identification of technological opportunities for RIs, based on the International Patent Classification (IPC), whose design knowledge has not been fully utilized. In this approach, technological opportunities for RIs are identified by measuring the value of technological novelty (VON) of each technology manifested in a patent set, and the value of difficulty (VOD) of each R&D theme contained in the patent set. Specifically, VONs are calculated through a novel map of technological changes over time, based on structured data from the patent set; and VODs are determined using natural language processing, K-means cluster analysis, and complex network analysis of the unstructured data from the patent set. The feasibility and operability of the proposed approach are verified in a case study of unmanned aerial vehicles. The proposed approach can help designers maximize the use of designs and expert knowledge in patent libraries, to formulate technical strategies for RIs.