Patent Map Research Articles

Advances and future directions of environmental risk research: A bibliometric review

Environmental risk is one of the world’s most significant threats, projected to be the leading risk over the next decade. It has garnered global attention due to increasingly severe environmental issues, such as climate change and ecosystem degradation. Research and technology on environmental risks are gradually developing, and the scope of environmental risk study is also expanding. Here, we developed a tailored bibliometric method, incorporating co-occurrence network analysis, cluster analysis, trend factor analysis, patent primary path analysis, and patent map methods, to explore the status, hotspots, and trends of environment risk research over the past three decades. According to the bibliometric results, the publications and patents related to environmental risk have reached explosive growth since 2018. The primary topics in environmental risk research mainly involve (a) ecotoxicology risk of emerging contaminants (ECs), (b) environmental risk induced by climate change, (c) air pollution and health risk assessment, (d) soil contamination and risk prevention, and (e) environmental risk of heavy metal. Recently, the hotspots of this field have shifted into artificial intelligence (AI) based techniques and environmental risk of climate change and ECs. More research is needed to assess ecological and health risk of ECs, to formulize mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change risks, and to develop AI-based environmental risk assessment and control technology. This study provides the first comprehensive overview of recent advances in environmental risk research, suggesting future research directions based on current understanding and limitations.

Mesenchymal stem cell-derived cell-free technologies: a patent landscape.

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) play a pivotal role in regenerative therapies. Recent studies show that factors secreted by MSC can replicate their biological activity, driving the emergence of cell-free therapy, likely to surpass stem cell therapy. Patents are an objective measure of R&D and innovation activities, and patent mapping allows us to verify the state of the art and technology, anticipate trends, and identify emerging lines of research. This review performed a search on Derwent World Patents Index™ and retrieved 269 patent families related to the MSC-derived cell-free products. Analysis reveals an exponential increase in patents from the mid-2010s, primarily focusing on exosomes. The patent's contents offer a great diversity of applications and associated technologies by using the products as medicinal agents or drug delivery systems. Nevertheless, numerous application branches remain unexplored, suggesting vast potential for cell-free technologies alone or combined with other approaches.

Innovation waves: Analysis and modeling of patents on ultrasound applications in food processing

AbstractUltrasonication is an innovative green technology with various applications in the food industry. Notably, patent analysis from a technological perspective is essential for monitoring market trends and identifying the technological stage through life cycle modeling. Thus, this study aimed to conduct an investigation using patent documents on the application of ultrasound in the food sector. The Espacenet® database was used with the keywords “Food Processing,” “Ultrasound,” and “Ultrasonication,” along with the code A23. A total of 140 documents were evaluated, with China being the main applicant country. Fruits and vegetables and bioactive compounds were the key technological sectors. Food preservation and extraction processes emerged as the primary applications. The involvement of ultrasound technology in the food industry is entering the maturity stage, as demonstrated by the function adjusted to the BiDoseResp model. This result implies further technological and market development in the food industry in the coming years.Practical applicationsThis review addressed the evolution and the current scenario of ultrasound applications in food processing through patent documents deposited between 1979 and 2022, which are rich technological information sources. This approach identified the main technological sectors of food and applications in which ultrasound is most used, as well as the main institutions, inventors, and patent‐filing countries. The major challenges, impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic, and market trends were also discussed. Through mathematical modeling of patent mapping, it was detected that ultrasonication is integrated into the food sector while maintaining a highly competitive impact. This development indicates a future with significant advancements in the development of ultrasound in the food industry, with increasing participation of emerging countries in technological monopolies and a trend of associating ultrasound with non‐thermal emerging technologies in patented inventions. Food waste, food printing, and food for people with swallowing difficulties are potential areas for further development.

Technological prospecting: Patent mapping of bioremediation of soil contaminated with agrochemicals using fungi

The purpose of this study was to investigate the development of biotechnologies related to the bioremediation of soil contaminated by agrochemicals using fungi through technological prospecting with patent mapping and analysis of scientific products. Due to the high complexity of biotechnologies involving microorganisms, it is observed that the state of the art is still in development, with several technological advantages already elucidated and important challenges to be overcome. Patent mapping revealed that the number of granted or pending patents showed a positive trend. In this context, a high number of patent documents were observed that describe processes and methods aimed at the preparation and application of fungi in soil bioremediation, as well as biotechnologies that use consortia of different strains of fungi or fungi and bacteria and advanced approaches involving genetic engineering. In short, it was found that inventions related to the investigated biotechnology have been protected mainly in China, the USA, Japan, and the European Union, with emphasis on the technological impact of patents in India. Finally, the findings indicated that soil bioremediation with the use of fungi presents a potential for development due to a series of technological and environmental aspects.

HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors: an updated review of biosynthesis and patent prospecting

HMG-CoA reductase (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase) is the enzyme that plays a limiting role in cholesterol biosynthesis. Among the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor molecules, statins stand out, a class of drug used in the treatment of atherosclerosis and in the reduction of high cholesterol levels, therefore they are biomolecules of medical and pharmaceutical importance. In this context, this work aimed to carry out a systematic mapping of patents and scientific articles related to the biosynthesis of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. The search was carried out in the databases of the National Institute of Intellectual Property (INPI), the European Patent Office (Espacenet), the Derwent Innovations Index, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and also articles indexed in Scielo and Pubmed using as descriptors “statins”, “production and statins and fungi”, “statins and fungus”. Of the 2561 cataloged patents, 09 were included because they met the inclusion criteria. The number of scientific articles found in the databases was higher (2820) when compared to the number of patents. As a country, China represents the largest holder on the subject, corresponding to 88.9% of patented products. Based on the mapping, advances in the search for strategies for the biotechnological production of statins can be highlighted. Some of the inventions used microorganisms such as filamentous fungi associated with agro-industrial substrates as an alternative and low-cost source for the production of statins to replace synthetic sources. However, future studies can be carried out using new fungi and new renewable substrates, considering the existing biodiversity worldwide.

Technology opportunity discovery based on patent analysis: a hybrid approach of subject-action-object and generative topographic mapping

ABSTRACT An incomplete understanding of the technical details in a firm’s technology selection can lead to a failure in the process of the technology opportunity discovery (TOD) and cause a series of R&D problems. This study proposes an approach for the automated TOD by combining the subject-section-object (SAO) and the generative topographic mapping (GTM), which concentrates on the role of the semantic information in TOD process. First, the semantic information of the technology components in a target field is extracted and the topics of different semantic structures are defined. Second, the GTM-based patent map is established to discover technology opportunities based on a vector matrix composed of patents and topics. Finally, the degree of semantic similarity is applied to measure the technology novelty and to identify promising technology opportunities. The case of the coal-bed methane extraction technology demonstrates that the automated approach based on the semantic information can help understand the concrete details of technology opportunities and improve the accuracy of TOD.

A patent-based approach to identifying potential technology opportunities realizable from a firm’s internal capabilities

Technology opportunity identification leads to technological advances with future-oriented ideas by predicting the direction of change in technological trends. Many researchers have proposed several processes for identifying technology opportunities using various types of data sources. Among them, patents have been widely used as a dominant source in that they can serve as a reliable source of knowledge. Previous studies have built patent maps and explored outliers or vacant spaces on the map to discover new technology opportunities. They also have developed a morphological matrix and modified the shapes of its dimensions to produce new ideas. However, they have dealt with measuring generic potential values without taking account of a firm’s internal capabilities. To secure meaningful opportunities, it is necessary to examine how well the opportunities identified are suitable for the internal capabilities. Moreover, they have focused on the technology opportunities at the present time. Technology opportunities, however, have value in the future, not the present. Motivated to address these limitations, this study proposes a novel approach that facilitates a firm to identify potential technology opportunities realizable from its internal capabilities. This study is expected to improve R&D planning capabilities and contribute to the establishment of a next-generation R&D planning system.

Mapping of Patents Related to The Development of Products for Diabetic Neuropathy: a technological prospection from 2010 to 2022

Diabetic neuropathy is a complication of diabetes that occurs in 40-60 million diabetics worldwide and is associated with other chronic diseases. Besides that, there are no prospective studies that present the state of the technique about technologies developed to circumvent this important public health problem. Given the above, this study aims to carry out a technological prospection about the products developed for diabetic neuropathy in the period 2010-02/02/2022. To this end, a technological prospection was carried out at the INPI and ESPACENET patent office’s always making a parallel between Brazilian reality in comparison with international companies. Therefore, in this period, it was found that the countries that produced the most patents on the subject were China, the United States, and Japan, and the company that published the most patents in this period was Beijing Luyuan Qiuzheng Technology Dev. Co Ltd. Thus, the data from this study showed that Brazil did not produce patents on the subject in this period and that China, the United States, and Japan were the countries that showed the greatest interest in technological development aimed at this disease, which affects millions of people all over the world.

Gaining Competitive Advantage with a Performance-Oriented Assessment Using Patent Mapping: A Case for Comparing South Korea, United States and Europe's Ev Wireless Charging Patents

Gaining Competitive Advantage with a Performance-Oriented Assessment Using Patent Mapping: A Case for Comparing South Korea, United States and Europe's Ev Wireless Charging Patents

PROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF ALGAL BIODIESEL PRODUCTION

This article aims to carry out an initial patent mapping of algal biodiesel. The production of algal biodiesel is one of the forms of third generation biodiesel; it is an environmentally friendly alternative energy whose main advantage is that it does not compete with food, as the algal biodiesel is produced from synthesized lipids by algae in growth using sunlight. The methodology used was the patent mapping by activity having as search criteria: the Espacenet database (“worldwide”); and, the keyword: biodiesel and algae and algal biodiesel. It was observed that about 80% of the family of patent documents referring to this technology were applied between 2007 and 2016 and that these documents were published mainly in China (34% of patent documents), followed by the United States (25% of patent documents) and thirdly, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WO), that is, the PCT's international patent application, which indicates an interest in protection in several countries (15% of patent documents). Concluding that China and the United States are the countries that invest the most in the development and protection of technologies related to the production of algal biodiesel, however, the interest in protection goes beyond these countries, since the interest in alternative energies is worldwide.

Identification of Promising Smart Farm Technologies and Development of Technology Roadmap Using Patent Map Analysis

In this study, we suggest methodologies for identifying promising and vacant technologies on smart farms by analyzing patent information. Additionally, a technology roadmap for smart farms is suggested using network analysis. The database of patents related to smart farms was extracted from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) by keyword search, and valid patents data was selected and clustered using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) algorithm. We also conducted the technical importance analysis and trend analysis to identify promising technology topics. By developing a patent map based on a self-organizing map (SOM), we were able to identify vacant technologies among smart farm technology groups. In order to develop vacant technologies, we presented a stepwise technology roadmap by analyzing the relationship between technology elements using network analysis. The proposed procedure and analysis method provides useful insights in establishing research and development (R&D) strategies for the development of smart farm technology roadmaps.

Identification methods and indicators of important patents

PurposeThis study aims to find technologically important patent identification methods and indicators early and efficiently to grasp the technical qualitative level of patents, which are output indicators of research and development (R&D) results.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reports on two methods for distinguishing important patents and the indicators obtained from those methods. One of the discrimination methods is Heckman's two-step estimation procedure. The second method is to find the centrality of each patent by network analysis of the citation relationship between publications and to find the importance from the magnitude of the centrality value.FindingsIn Heckman's analysis, the number of citations within three years after publication and the applicant's right acquisition/maintenance motivation index had positive effects on patent importance. The discriminative indicators of important patents by network analysis were degree centrality, mediation centrality, proximity centrality and transit values in the aggregated subnetworks. These two analytical methods are in a relationship that can complement each other's shortcomings. To efficiently evaluate the qualitative importance of patents, it is recommended to use these two methods together.Research limitations/implicationsThe indicators of important technical patents might change depending on the technical field. Future studies can apply this research to multiple technical fields to improve robustness and to construct an algorithm that can efficiently evaluate the quality of patents.Practical implicationsThis study's results can be useful for grasping the patent position of the company or competitors numerically and for quantitatively evaluating the quality of R&D activities. Furthermore, it is possible to streamline the routine for an exploratory search of a huge number of patents. For example, it could be useful for detecting changes in the paradigm of specific technical knowledge, evolving the genealogy of technical knowledge and creating patent maps for new R&D. These methods greatly increase the effectiveness of technical knowledge information, which is the basis of R&D. In addition, the results of this study can help in evaluating patented assets.Social implicationsThis study confirmed the development process of technical knowledge. It is a fact that sharing, sympathy and mutual trust for technical issues and technical values are created among professional engineers and researchers inside and outside the organization, and their preferences and interactions develop and expand technical knowledge. Understanding the process of development and the evolution of this technical knowledge gives hints, such as expanding the discretionary power of engineers and researchers regarding corporate secrets, or reviewing the balance between control and independence, to solve Japanese management problems, which are often closed and monetized in R&D activities.Originality/valueThis study presents a scoring of the technical significance of patents by combining the two analytical methods. In addition, there are proposals as a method for detecting changes in the genealogy and paradigm of technical knowledge. As an analysis method, it is a new proposal that has never existed before.

Study on the Innovation Process in Precision Agriculture using patent mapping using NPK sensors in the production of fertilizers

With the constant population growth, Agroindustry has sought to innovate in its products and processes, with innovation and precision agriculture in the use of NPK fertilizers, and the determination of the concentrations of NPK present in the soil, makes it necessary for the correction of such levels in order to obtain greater soil efficiency and crop productivity, this adopted practice requires the use of sensors both in the bio manager and in the soil for the result to be really valid. There is a need to evaluate the scenario in which the NPK sensors developed to date are inserted in order to contribute to the knowledge in this area of study. One of the ways to carry out such an evaluation is through the information contained in the patent documents, the objective of this article. With the search for these documents, 95 patent documents were selected after reading and analyzing the abstracts, where the presence in both the soil and the soil and in the bio manager, we had 66% of the cases, and China (96%), which is the country that consumes the most fertilizers, as parents that most protects its innovations with emphasis on the Jiangsu region.

Analysis on Data Mining Tools Used in Business Intelligence and Inventions

This paper will evaluate data mining tools for competitive intelligence and technology. Data analyzers i.e. Thomson and OmniViz are the tools for completing diversified and sophisticated mathematical analyses of data. AnaVist and Aureka are considerable for modest visualization of statistics and itoplistsi is used for creating maps that are stylish. Novel features of OmniViz during the comparison of other tested tools are used for visualizing clustered data from difference viewpoints, which makes it possible to assess the attributes using patent map animation. The Thomson data analyzer provides effective tools that compare various subsets for data, such as the identification of unique attribute values. In citation assessments, Aureka is used as well as in illustrative patent maps. AnaVist is the best in retrieving basis statistics smoothly and quickly. The findings from four tools were similar, despite the fact that various databases for data retrieving were utilized. Superior investors and assignees list were the same, since they were an annual trend for geographical and technological business segments. Nonetheless, the conclusions from the findings were that business decisions are made using their tools to enhance competitive intelligence.

Identification of Promising Vacant Technologies for the Development of Truck on Freight Train Transportation Systems

In this study, we identify promising, currently vacant technologies for a Truck on Flatcar or Truck on Freight Train (TFTFT) system by analyzing the relevant patent information. We then apply network analysis from macro- and microperspectives to establish technology development strategies. We first researched the patent database from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) by extracting relevant keywords for the TFTFT system. We then preprocessed the patent data to develop a patent-International Patent Classification (IPC) matrix and a patent-keyword matrix. Next, we developed a generative topographic mapping (GTM)-based patent map using the patent-IPC matrix and detected any patent vacuums. Then, in order to confirm the promising patent vacuums, we technically examined criticality and trend analyses. Finally, we designed an IPC-based network and a keyword network with promising patent vacuums to derive a technology development strategy from a macro- and microperspective for the TFTFT system. As a result, we confirmed two promising patent vacuums. The patent vacuums found were defined as the technical field of rail vehicles suitable for TFTFT systems and the technical field of equipment and systems for freight transfer to rail vehicles. The proposed procedure and analysis method provide useful insights for developing a research and development (R&D) strategy and technology development strategy for a TFTFT system.

Identification of Vacant and Emerging Technologies in Smart Mobility Through the GTM-Based Patent Map Development

With the development of the online platforms and the Internet of Things (IoT), various transportation services have been provided, and the lifestyle of the general public has changed significantly. However, the speed of development of technologies and services for the mobility handicapped has been relatively slow. Accordingly, in this paper, the smart mobility patent data for the mobility handicapped is subdivided through clustering to derive the mobility handicapped-related vacant technologies, and the prospect of the vacant technology is verified. For each cluster, a technology level map is generated in consideration of the technology growth level and the scope of authority of the vacant technology derived through the generative topographic map (GTM) patent map, and the level of the vacant technology is checked in terms of quantity and quality. Both indicators perform time series analyses on superior technology to predict technology trends and determine the technology’s promisingness. Unlike the precedent studies that focused only on quantitative analysis methods, this paper identified the usefulness of the technology through clustering and various verification processes and materialized it as a vacant technology that is applicable to actual R&D. Accordingly, through this empirical paper, it is possible to understand the current level of vacant technology in smart mobility for the mobility handicapped and establish an R&D strategy to prevent monopoly in technology in the future market and maintain competitiveness. It can also be utilized for new technology development in consideration of convergence with currently developed technology.

Technological Opportunity Analysis: Assistive Technology for Blind and Visually Impaired People

As life expectancy increases, the number of people who suffer from blind and visual impairment due to presbyopia is gradually increasing. Assistive device systems have been used to overcome various physical, social, infrastructure, and accessibility barriers. As technology has advanced, the scope of assistive technologies has been expanded. Therefore, we explored technological opportunities in assistive technology for the blind and visually impaired to establish a strategy for the technology competition in the near future. Firstly, the patent vacuum is detected by generating the patent map based on generative topographic mapping (GTM). Secondly, social network analysis is applied to identify the relationship between patent vacuums and occupied grid points in the patent map. Finally, the technology activity index and technology impact index are considered at quantitative and qualitative levels. Consequently, it was identified that wearable devices, including the road situation signal acquisition module and data acquisition process control module, could be occupied in the future. This study can provide practical ideas for research and development (R&D) in the field of assistive devices for the blind and visually impaired. In addition, this study can be an ample source for decision/policy makers to project new contents.

Research on technology prospect risk of high-tech projects based on patent analysis.

The uncertainty of high technology has determined the high-risk character of high-tech projects. Thus, it is of great importance to effectively avoid the risk of high-tech projects by thoroughly analyzing projects' methodologies and fully understanding the technology prospect risk of projects in the feasibility study phase. This study proposes a systematic research framework to identify and analyze the technology prospect risk of projects based on patent analysis. Thus, text mining technology and principal component analysis are used to improve the traditional patent map method and construct a technology prospect risk map. Moreover, patent value evaluation and correlation analysis methods are combined to identify technology potential areas and calculate the value of technology prospect risk. At the same time, an empirical study is conducted with project cases in the field of optical communications, and the technology prospect risk situations of these projects are ascertained through qualitative and quantitative methods. The study is innovative and practical and offers a better combination of analysis methods for current technology development and specific projects.

Patent Mapping in Emerging Countries

Perform a technological prospecting permits the Company to understand what in the future may have as economic assets to their own nation and which technologies will be available in terms of innovation. In this paper, we aimed to construct a panorama with technological indicators through patents focusing mainly in emerging countries that make up the BRIC group. It was sought as obtaining results, variables such as: profiles of patent offices, numbers of intellectual protection applications, patent applications by offices in the applicable countries of forms resident and abroad by family of patents, as well as the technological profiles of these patents, of their inventors and of their investors. With this multicase study, reflections were supported through bibliographic references in scientific articles and international reports, and the extraction of technological data in patents were results of one exploratory verification in the Patent Office of the World Intellectual Property Organization. Taking the general understanding that emerging countries are growing index in intellectual protection records in the issue of patents and there is a general effort from their offices by the motivation to innovation, as well as multinational companies stand out in this segment of intellectual assets.

Advances in HealthCare teaching

The objective in this article, the realization of a patent mapping on medical education, especially using simulators, since we know that in the teaching of medicine, the development of technical and motor skills in practice is essential, and historically, this training happens with the use of corpses, small animals and later monitoring procedures. With all the advent of technological innovation, financial, cultural and social changes demanded the emergence of new teaching technologies, and through this study, one of the utilities of the technological mapping of the activity can be confirmed through patent documents, which is to obtain the technological evolution of a given subject, in this case: use of models, including simulators in medical education. The temporal evolution of patent documents referring to medical education peaked from 2009 to 2018, and above all, it can be concluded that the latest technologies are models of simulators and there are indications from the United States in exporting this technology to Brazil. recent. From this mapping, it is possible to subsidize technological innovation strategies and assist in the promotion of policies and legislation aimed at stimulating national entrepreneurship and the generation of business opportunities.