Patent Perspective Research Articles

Technological Profile of Microreactor Based on Patent Analysis

AbstractSince the concept of microreactor was first proposed in the 1980s, it has been entering the chemistry and chemical engineering fields at a high speed and is favored by both scientific and commercial fields. The development of microreactors has been extensively studied in the literature, but less analysis has been carried out from the perspective of industrial technology. This paper aims to identify, analyze, and map the technological profile of microreactors from the perspective of patents. Based on the text mining techniques, a quantitative analysis of 16,327 microreactor‐related patents in the Derwent Innovations Index database was conducted. The analysis reveals a consistent annual increase in the number of microreactor‐related patents from 1982 to 2021. Specifically, China emerges as the leading country in terms of patent disclosures, whereas the United States and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) play a crucial role in knowledge transfer. Moreover, this study identifies the technological evolution path for microreactors and analyzes in detail the key patents along this evolution path. Individuation, modularization, and greening are the developing directions of microreactor technology in the future. This research offers valuable guidance for researchers and industry professionals in decision‐making and driving advancements in microreactor technology.

Trace the evolution path of pharmaceutical wastewater treatment technology based on a patent perspective

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the research hotspots and future development trends of pharmaceutical wastewater treatment technology, in order to provide valuable reference and guidance to promote the development of technology. First, the search path counting (SPC) algorithm is utilized to identify the global main path to perform a preliminary analysis of the technology evolution path from a macro perspective. Second, according to the life cycle, S-curve divides the time windows of the temporal themes and uses the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) modeling to identify the themes under each time window. Then, a visualized Sankey diagram is generated to determine the evolutionary relationship, which can be supplemented with the paths of technological evolution from the micro point of view. Finally, six research hotspots of pharmaceutical wastewater treatment technology were found, which are compounding agents, advanced oxidation technology, nanomaterials, artificial intelligence (AI) technology, membrane pollution prevention, and various combinations of wastewater treatment technology. The study also predicted its future development direction.

Estimating patent value in the United States and Japan

Patents contribute to economic development; therefore, estimations of patent value are significant in measuring their impact on the economy. With this in mind, this article discusses estimations of patent value with the renewal model developed by several economists. Targeted patents are those issued in the United States and Japan from 1990 to 2010. In addition, the study examines patent values for several technology fields and considers which technology field should be the focus for the United States and Japan. Moreover, this article compares estimations based on the renewal model versus those based on other data such as sales, trade prices, or trials and analyzes how close this model's estimations are to the real values. This article's results demonstrate that the renewal model is useful for evaluating patents overall and analyzing technological trends from a patent perspective.

Patinformatics Studies on Tomato Plant Disease

Purpose: Recent advancements in artificial intelligence in agriculture have had excellent results. This paper aims to discuss the patent perspective of tomato plant disease using artificial intelligence and discover the global research scenario. Methodology: Patent documents from Lens.org were extracted for this study. A total of 4793 patent documents were analyzed manually. It also provides state-of-the-art patent documents on the readymix of researchers involved in tomato plant disease. The application used for patent landscape is MS Excel, PatCite, and Origin. Results: The study analyzed the research activities worldwide, top players in the field, and patent landscape analysis. This article focuses on the different facets of the competitive landscape process of intellectual property related to tomato plant disease. Conclusion: This review familiarizes tomato plant diseases with new and changing trends and convinces them of the importance of applying for patents to protect their innovation and the industry’s use of those innovations to promote commercialization.

Research on the development trend of green building in China from the perspective of patent

Based on Innojoy patent search engine, this paper analyzes the patent type, technical fields, innovation activity, life cycle and patent value of green building in China. The development trend of green building in China is summarized. Suggestions were put forward to promote the development of China’s green building industry. It is found that the overall development trend of China’s green building is good, and it is in the growth stage of the technology life cycle, and the development potential is huge. Green building gradually runs through the whole process of construction, and the application scope continues to expand. Technological innovation is the core driving force for the development of green building.

Research on the evolution of China's photovoltaic technology innovation network from the perspective of patents

Photovoltaic (PV) technology, as a low-carbon energy technology, is crucial to mitigating climate change and achieving sustainable development. China has the largest total number of PV technology patents in the world, but the lack of core technologies has restricted the further innovative development of China's PV industry. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify China's current PV technology accumulation to better catch up with key technology areas. To clearly describe the structural characteristics of China's PV technology innovation network, this study uses China's patent PV technology data over the past 20 years from the Incopat global patent database and analyses the structural characteristics of the network from the perspectives of one-mode and two-mode networks, using method of social network analysis (SNA). The results show that 1) the leading PV enterprises have basically formed relatively stable internal collaborations and that the scale of innovation network development has expanded rapidly, with very strong stamina; 2) with the development of China's PV industry, many innovative PV techniques have been developed by leading enterprises in the field of innovation and research and development (R&D) of PV technology, and among patent applicants with strong collaboration, kinship collaboration with investment relationships is dominant; 3) provinces participating in PV technology innovation are increasing significantly, the network is more influenced by leading nodes, and the eastern coastal provinces are pioneers in the innovation and R&D of PV technology; and 4) PV technological innovation collaboration between patent applicants and cities has changed from local collaboration to cross-regional collaboration, high-value areas are basically concentrated in the eastern coastal region of China, with scattered spatial characteristics, and cross-regional collaboration presents a “triangular” spatial structure, with the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei as cores. The conclusions can provide patent information support for scientific research on energy conservation and emission reduction to achieve low-carbon goals, and can also provide reference for policy formulation of renewable energy development and green development strategies.

Analysis of early diagnosis and prevention techniques for occupational pneumoconiosis based on patent perspectives in China's coal industry

Occupational pneumoconiosis in the coal industry is an occupational disease that seriously endangers coal miners' health. Early diagnosis and prevention techniques are significant in controlling its incidence rate and reducing its harm. This article takes the patent data related to the early diagnosis and prevention of occupational pneumoconiosis in the coal industry, published from 1985 to 2021, as the research object. It uses tools such as the Derwent Data Analyzer (DDA) software, the Patyee Database, and the PatSnap Database to analyze the technological development trend and characteristics in this field from aspects of growth trend, primary patent holders, IPC classification layout, value, and research and development hotspots. The results show that the number of patent applications in this field indicates a rapid growth trend, mainly in the hands of Shandong Energy Group Co. Ltd., Shandong University of Science and Technology, China University of Mining and Technology, and other institutions or enterprises. Patent technology mainly involves spray dust reduction, dust removal fans, dust masks, and other aspects with high patent value and innovation ability. This article provides a new perspective and reference for preventing, diagnosing, and treating occupational pneumoconiosis in the coal industry.

Digital innovation, investment efficiency and total factor productivity: evidence from enterprise digital patents

ABSTRACT In the era of the digital economy, enterprises face the imperative of engaging in digital innovation to effectively respond to market competition. As total factor productivity (TFP) is a critical indicator of evaluating an enterprise’s sustainable development goals, this study examines the causal relationship between digital innovation and TFP using digital patent data from listed Chinese companies between 2010 and 2021. The findings reveal a positive and robust relationship between digital innovation and TFP. The channel analysis demonstrates that digital innovation enhances TFP by curbing excess investment, thereby confirming the micro mechanism of digital innovation → investment efficiency → TFP. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive impact of digital innovation on TFP is particularly prominent in capital-intensive industries, large-scale enterprises, and state-owned enterprises. Additionally, digital innovation is found to have a positive influence on TFP across the stages of an enterprise’s lifecycle. This study contributes to the literature by expanding the understanding of the economic consequences of digital innovation for businesses, particularly from the perspective of digital patents, enriches the literature on enhancing TFP, and provides valuable insights for enterprises seeking to achieve their sustainable development goals.

Edible oleogels as solid fat alternatives: A review from patent perspectives

AbstractOleogel technology has grown into a substantial research area over the past decade and development through a body of scientific patents and publications. Despite many exciting improvements in structural mechanisms and system development, promoting this technology from a laboratory study into an industrial production is not an easy task. Successful commercialization is predicated on the oleogel being able to adequately replace the various roles played by conventional plastic fats in complex food systems. To this end, certain inevitable limitations, such as poor plasticity, low structural stability, and intricate production procedures, need to be addressed first. This review gives the freedom‐spaces available for product developments and provides a deeper understanding for researchers in the oleogel technology combining both sides of patents and literatures. An insight analysis regarding research trends, hot topics, influences, and technology life cycle of current inventions has been conducted. Current structural strategies, formulations, and implementation scales are also discussed. Finally, future perspectives on the technology are highlighted.

N-acetylgalactosamine delivery systems for RNA therapeutics: a patent perspective

ABSTRACT Introduction SiRNA molecules with a feature of good gene-silencing are critical for drug discovery and development based on RNA interference. GalNAc-RNA therapeutics is a rapid growing area in RNA therapeutics. Areas covered This article provides patent landscape and modification feature of GalNAc-RNA therapeutics. The US-granted patents from January 2004 to April 2023 were retrieved and analyzed. Expert opinion Globally, our study is the first one to holistically depict a map of modifications and therapeutic applications for GalNAc-RNA therapeutics by patent data analysis. The results showed there were 8 major modifications and 5 new emerged modifications for GalNAc-RNA therapeutic agents. Especially, the study provides recent new emerged modifications in sugar, base, and internucleotide linkage of GalNAc-RNA therapeutic agents, e.g. morpholino-type ring, 5-methylcytosine, and phosphorodithioates. In addition, our study systematically demonstrated major therapeutic applications for GalNAc-RNA therapeutics, including liver or gallbladder disorders, anticancer, antihyperlipidemics, and disorders of the nervous system etc.

Identification of Product Innovation Path Incorporating the FOS and BERTopic Model from the Perspective of Invalid Patents

Under the premise of resource constraint, it is crucial to identify the product innovation opportunities contained in failed patents through external search in order to compensate for the shortcomings of enterprises’ own technology. Due to the cost of patent research and development and the risk of infringement, this paper constructs a product innovation identification path that integrates the FOS and BERTopic model from the perspective of invalid patents. The path consists of three stages, including the identification of the problem to be solved by the product based on functional analysis, the extraction of the subject matter elements based on the core failed patent technology, and the generation and evaluation of innovative solutions based on TRIZ theory and the best- worst method (BWM). Finally, the feasibility of the path constructed in this paper is verified by taking a slurry pump as an example. The application results show that the product innovation identification path constructed in this paper can provide theoretical support for enterprises to carry out technological innovation activities efficiently.

Exploring the Patent Landscape and Regulatory Prospective on Pharmaceutical Cocrystals

Background: Cocrystals are not new, they have sparked considerable interest among scientists and the pharmaceutical business in the last decade. Cocrystals are multiphase formations composed of at least two particles that are held together by noncovalent bonds. Cocrystal offers unmatched physio-engineered attributes (like stability, melting point, taste concealment, dissolvability, purity, bioavailability, etc.) without changing the pharmacological capabilities of the drug. Recently, as pharmaceutical cocrystal development has increased, we have given more attention to the absurd state of cocrystals. Purpose: The purpose of the current review is to explore the patent perspective on pharmaceutical cocrystals. And to discuss the new regulations that came up from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA). Methods: In order to accomplish the said objectives, literature was surveyed from GOOGLE PATENTS, GOOGLE SCHOLAR, PUBMED, EBSCO, etc. type for search engines for a detailed overview of the patentability and regulatory status of pharmaceutical cocrystals. Conclusions: The journey of pharmaceutical cocrystals is bit challenging and still going on. In addition, if attention is drawn on some challenging aspects such as scalability, reproducibility, herbal bioactives cocrystals and 3D printed cocrystals related preparation and stability challenges, it can prove to be a paradigm shift in drug discovery processes.

Development Pattern of Medical Device Technology and Regulatory Evolution of Cataract Treatment

To prevent regulation from becoming an obstacle to healthcare technological innovation, regulation should evolve as new healthcare technologies are developed. Although regulation is closely related to healthcare technology development, there are few studies that view healthcare technological advances from the multi-layered perspective of papers, patents, and clinical research and link this with regulatory evolution. Therefore, this study tried to develop a new method from a multi-layer perspective and draw regulatory implications based on it. This study applied this method to intraocular lens (IOLs) for cataract treatment and detected four major healthcare technologies and two recent healthcare technologies. Moreover, it discussed how current regulations evaluate these technologies. The findings provide implications for healthcare technological advances and the evolutionary direction of regulation through the example of IOLs for cataract treatment. This study contributes to the development of theoretical methods for co-evolution with regulations based on healthcare technology innovation.

The Development Status, Technical Characteristics, and Competitive Dynamics of Blockchain-critical Technologies in China and the USA: From a Patent Perspective

The Development Status, Technical Characteristics, and Competitive Dynamics of Blockchain-critical Technologies in China and the USA: From a Patent Perspective

Dynamic Evaluation of Transformation Ability for Emergency Scientific Research Achievements Based on an Improved Minimum Distance-Maximum Entropy Combination Weighting Method: A Case Study of COVID-19 Epidemic Data.

In the process of responding to major public health emergencies, the transformation of emergency scientific research results often faces many unfavourable factors such as limited resources, tight time, changes in needs, and lack of results. It is necessary to evaluate and analyze the ability to transform emergency scientific research results under public health emergencies, so as to rationally allocate emergency scientific research resources between subjects and regions, improve the efficiency of emergency results transformation, enhance emergency scientific research capabilities, and efficiently support incident prevention, control, and treatment. Starting from the patent level, this paper constructs an indicator system to evaluate the transformation ability of emergency scientific research results under major public health emergencies. It improves the minimum distance-maximum entropy combination weighting method to realize the static evaluation of transformation ability for emergency scientific research results from the perspective of patents, then constructs the dynamic evaluation model of transformation ability for emergency scientific research results in public health emergencies from the perspective of patents, and carries out the dynamic evaluation of the emergency scientific research achievements transformation ability of different subjects and different regions. We also improve the ER index, measure the static polarization effect of the transformation ability for regional emergency scientific research results, and consider the time factor to construct a dynamic polarization effect measurement model for the transformation ability of emergency scientific research achievement. Furthermore, this paper improves the measurement model of contribution degree to the polarization effect, and analyzes the contribution degree to polarization of the transformation ability for regional emergency scientific research results.

Low-carbon spatial differences of renewable energy technologies: Empirical evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt

Under the “double carbon” target, renewable energy technologies offer a new low-carbon development path for human society. This paper selects the Yangtze River Economic Belt as the research area, introduces the classification of the renewable energy technologies from the perspective of patents and uses the Super-SBM model, entropy TOPSIS method and spatial Durbin model to empirically analyze the spatial spillover effects of the renewable energy technologies on carbon emission efficiency (CEE) and optimal development range. The analysis conclusions are as follows: First, there are differences in geographical location and geographic distance between the eastern and the western regions. The CEE is spatially correlated, but the permeability is weak, which specifically reflects the stepwise difference in the eastern, central and western regions of the spatial dimension and the path correlation in the time dimension. Then, the effects of the renewable energy technologies on CEE are all positive, showing continuous and effective positive promotion effects, but the performance of technology diffusion is poor, the spillover effect on the adjacent regions is not obvious. And finally, the positive promotion effect of the renewable energy technologies on CEE is affected by the interval of its double threshold effect.

Classification of FinTech Patents by Machine Learning and Deep Learning Reveals Trends of FinTech Development in China

The development of the financial industry and its integration with information technology have promoted FinTech innovation. China is a major contributor to FinTech innovation, but few studies have systematically summarized FinTech innovation and development in China from the perspective of patents. This lacuna is attributable to the lack of a generally accepted classification of FinTech patents and the unavailability of classified Chinese FinTech patent text data. To fill this research gap, we developed a classification of Chinese FinTech patents and manually annotated a set of patent texts to train machine learning and deep learning models to classify massive Chinese patent application data and identify different types of FinTech innovations. Among the evaluated models, the character-level convolutional neural network (CNN) model and BERT model classified FinTech innovation most accurately. We used the character-level CNN to classify 20,529 Chinese FinTech patent applications from 2013 to 2020. The classified dataset was used to briefly analyze the history of FinTech innovation development in China and its future prospects.

Examining Key Technologies Among Academic Patents Through an Analysis of Standard-Essential Patents

With the growing focus and development on the industrialization of the research and development (R&D) outcomes of universities, academic patents have witnessed significant growth in recent years. However, previous development directions for the technologies of academic patents have mostly focused on patents approved by or applied for with major patent offices; few have examined from the perspective of standard-essential patents (SEPs). This study examined key technologies of academic SEPs through network analysis. The findings revealed that most of the key technologies of academic SEPs are involved in wireless communication networks and the transmission of digital information, electric digital data processing, control or regulating systems, and secret communication systems. Among these, secret communication systems are key technologies in academia, and more scientific research resources should be invested in secret communication R&D in the future. In addition, the key technologies of academic SEPs have changed; specifically, image coding technology has undergone major developments. Accordingly, this study developed a key technology network model for academic standard-essential patents to verify those academic technologies that are vital to industrial applications.

Delivery of therapeutic small interfering RNA: The current patent-based landscape

Implementing small interfering RNA (siRNA) is a promising therapy because it silences disease-related genes theoretically. However, the efficient delivery of siRNA is challenging, which limits its therapeutic applications. Various pharmaceutical delivery systems containing key technologies have been developed and patented, which are of great concern to developers in the field. Despite numerous studies devoted to siRNA-delivery technologies, few researchers have systematically examined relevant patents. Patents, as bridges connecting academic progress with applicable innovation, encapsulate cumulative technological innovations and provide valuable information for academic research and commercial development. This study aims to analyze advances in therapeutic siRNA delivery technology from a patent perspective. A total of 11,509 patent documents from 3,309 patent families were collected, classified into 10 technological categories, and comprehensively analyzed. An overall patent landscape of siRNA delivery was presented from the temporal, spatial, organizational, and technological dimensions. This work is expected to help researchers and developers in the field of siRNA delivery form a basis for decision-making by combining our findings with supplementary data.

Achieving Carbon Neutrality – The Role of Heterogeneous Environmental Regulations on Urban Green Innovation

This article examines the impact of heterogeneous environmental regulations on urban green innovation using panel data from 285 prefecture-level cities in mainland China from 2008 to 2019. From the perspective of green patents, this article utilizes a two-way fixed-effect model and the mediation effect model to examine the mechanism of the impact of heterogeneous environmental regulations on urban green innovation in China. Results show that the urban green innovation development in China is relatively slow and can be easily influenced by national policies. More specifically, the relationship between the command-based environmental regulation and urban green innovation presents an inverted non-linear U-shaped model, whereas the relationship between the market-based and voluntary environmental regulation presents a positive U-shaped model. Further investigation of this mechanism concludes that the progression of regional green innovation is primarily accelerated by technological development, effective energy allocation, and industrial structural upgrading. However, the implementation of relevant environmental regulations varies, resulting in various green innovation progression rates. Therefore, in order to achieve the carbon neutrality goal that China proposes, the effectiveness of environmental regulation implementation should be improved. Moreover, the development of various environmental regulation tools should be better coordinated.