Abstract
This study analyzes the technology fusion phenomena and its characteristics, focusing on the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry in South Korea. Co-occurrence networks of international patent classification (IPC) codes have been analyzed based on the photovoltaic patents in South Korea during a 15-year period (2002–2016). The results reveal that, while the strength of technology fusion has greatly increased during the period, the structural pattern of fusion has been diversified or decentralized. In the early stage, widespread emergence of new technologies has been observed but, in the later stage, the focus of fusion shifted to the utilization of existing technologies. The characteristics of key technologies also changed as the technology fusion progressed. In the early stage, product technologies such as materials and components played a central role, while operation technologies such as monitor, structure, and arrangement were the drivers of fusion during the later stage.
Highlights
Renewable energy helps to protect our lives and the future from climate change and global warming [1,2]
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The Korean PV industry has grown rapidly in the past two decades. This was clearly evidenced by the patent statistics whereby the technology development has been actively pursued in terms of the IPC codes being applied to patents
Summary
Renewable energy helps to protect our lives and the future from climate change and global warming [1,2]. For more than 20 years, many countries have made efforts to develop renewable energy technologies and support the adoption of these technologies using policy instruments [3,4,5,6,7]. This has resulted in a rapid increase in the quantity of energy supply provided by renewables [5,6,7,8]. To increase the share of renewable energy in total energy supply, continuous technology development and innovation is needed
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