Abstract
Personnel involved in high-tech R&D commonly move between enterprises, bringing with them technology obtained elsewhere. This leads to an imperceptible circulation of analogous technology among different companies. Unfortunately, this so-called technological spillover is difficult to detect. This study combined social network analysis with patent data covering nearly 30 years to construct the networks that involve the mobility of inventors and technological overlap in the Hsinchu semiconductor industry. Regression analysis using quadratic assignment procedures reveals that the network within which inventors migrate has a positive impact on the network technological overlap. Further analysis clarified the positive relationship between the mobility of inventors and technological overlap in terms of the organizational network characteristics. This confirms a process of co-evolution between technological overlap and the mobility of inventors, which may have a highly likely spillover. Key words: Technological spillover, transferred inventor, social network analysis, technological overlap.
Highlights
Previous studies have emphasized the importance of innovation (Grant, 1991; Drucker, 1985; Schumpeter, 1934), revealing that more than one third of sales and profits in most industries are the result of recent developments. Schilling (2008) noted that the products developed by 3M in the previous five years contributed to 45% of total sales. Bhide (1994) pointed out that 71% of innovations in the 500 fastest growing companies in the United States involved the application or adaptation of previously acquired technical experience of newly transferred personnel
If past events can be recorded in a linear combination such as a network, research about technology can be implemented via social network analysis
This study utilized inventors, assignees, and technological classification codes in patent documents to reconstruct the past mobility of inventors and technological overlap in the Hsinchu semiconductor industry
Summary
Previous studies have emphasized the importance of innovation (Grant, 1991; Drucker, 1985; Schumpeter, 1934), revealing that more than one third of sales and profits in most industries are the result of recent developments. Schilling (2008) noted that the products developed by 3M in the previous five years contributed to 45% of total sales. Bhide (1994) pointed out that 71% of innovations in the 500 fastest growing companies in the United States involved the application or adaptation of previously acquired technical experience of newly transferred personnel. Individuals are the carriers of knowledge, and the flow of personnel inevitably leads to the transfer of technologies and methods between companies (Almeida and Kogut, 1999; Cantner and Graf, 2006) to enhance the career prospects of the individual involved (Cooper, 2001; Gorg and Strobl, 2005). This inevitably leads to the development of similar technology in both companies, resulting in frequent lawsuits related to patent infringement.
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