Patent Knowledge Research Articles

Exploring technological resilience at the country level with patents

ABSTRACTResilience is critical to stabilise and reduce shocks and create advantages over competitors in environments with dramatic change and unexpected crises. There is no generally agreed-upon definition of technological resilience, and there is not yet a well-developed theory of technological resilience at the country level. The objective of this paper is to contribute to technological resilience research based on patent indicators by analyzing OECD countries’ technological resilience. This paper provides a framework to analyze the quality of selected patent indicators used for estimating technological crisis. More specifically, four sets of patent indicators, i.e. collaboration, knowledge, diversity, and legal protection, are employed to evaluate technological resilience, which is characterised as crisis probability, intensity, and duration. We found that higher technological coverage leads to higher crisis probability, more original technology leads to higher crisis intensity, and interpersonal collaboration enhances the chance of passing a crisis.

Diffusion of knowledge in the biotechnology sector

The aim of the paper is to analyze the use of existing legally protected solutions an. publications made available through patent systems for the development of further biotechnological inventions. For its implementation, was conducted research based on the so-called patent citations of two kinds - to literature and previously published, other patents. For the needs of the paper, technical documentation of 88 patents in the resources of the Polish Patent Office and Espacenet was analyzed. The study includes 40 Polish biotechnology companies with significant innovation activity. The results of the conducted research allow to formulate two conclusions. First, the knowledge obtained from patent resources plays an important role in the innovation process of inventions in the biotechnology sector. Secondly, this knowledge is characterized by a high degree of internationalization, first of all are cited foreign inventions and source literature, domestic citations appear relatively rarely. Among observed references, citing American achievements plays a dominant role – this applies to both literature and inventions, which suggests that the US patent system is the main source of patent knowledge for Polish biotechnology companies.

A new TRIZ-based patent knowledge management system for construction technology innovation

PurposeThe quantity of construction technology innovations in patent database grows at a high speed. More challenging technical problems require knowledge workers to make full use of the huge existing technology innovation knowledge base to propose new innovative solutions. Hence, it is critical to deliver the right knowledge to the right people at the right time. To improve innovation efficiency and effectiveness, this research explores the development of a new patent knowledge management system to satisfy the increasing demand of construction innovations.Design/methodology/approachTRIZ-based patent knowledge management system (TPKMS) development involves the integration of construction patent knowledge management, theory of inventive problem-solving (TRIZ) theory, database techniques and computer programing technology. The contradiction matrix in TRIZ theory serves as the patent knowledge extraction framework, while SQL Server 2000 database management system is employed to manage the extracted patent knowledge, TRIZ and user account information. Visual C++ 6.0 is adopted as the development tool.FindingsThe developed system to manage construction patent knowledge integrates TRIZ with the database design, enabling the system users to be more problem-focused, systematic and efficient. The system provides a heuristic environment to help improve the innovation effectiveness by motivating knowledge workers’ innovative thinking. Further development of the system is proposed in the context of the age of big data.Originality/valueA new TRIZ-based patent knowledge management system for construction technology innovation was developed.

Product functional information based automatic patent classification: Method and experimental studies

In order to effectively extract the hidden information from the patent texts and to further provide this information to support the product innovation design process, this paper proposed an automatic patent classification method based on the functional basis and Naive Bayes theory. The functions of products are regarded as the innovation attributes, and the function co-reference relations of the patents in different areas are established. Patent classification methods are proposed based on the functions of products and the general steps of the patent classification process are proposed. In addition, three training methods are studied in the experiments, including multi-classification fully supervised training, multiple dichotomous supervised training and semi-supervised training. Through comparing and analyzing the experimental results, a patent text classifier is developed. In summary, this paper provides a general idea and the relevant technologies on how to build a patent knowledge space by automatically extracting and expanding the patent texts.

Patent portfolios and knowledge flow(s) of photovoltaic companies

ABSTRACTThe current trend towards green energy is encouraging manufacturers to invest in photovoltaic technologies. In order to guarantee R&D and optimal operational performance, operators should be able to identify the technological advantages of their competitors for the conduct R&D and to ensure adequate technological knowledge intake. Therefore, from the perspective of patent portfolios and knowledge flow(s) of photovoltaic companies, this study adopted two approaches namely, patent counts and patent citations, to discuss the technical capability of R&D portfolios and the technological knowledge flow. Three patent indices were utilised for the integration of R&D portfolios which include: technology attractiveness, relative patent position, and revealed patent advantage. Technological knowledge flow allows construction of a patent citation network through backward citation of patents. Sources and movement directions of technological knowledge are measured by calculating the relative citation propensity. R&D portfolios and knowledge flow are complementary perspectives of each photovoltaic company.

Key Technologies for Sustainable Design Based on Patent Knowledge Mining

With the rapid development of global economy, sustainable problems have aroused widespread concern by all countries in the world. Sustainable design is a systematic design method to develop the sustainable products or form the solutions to sustainable problems to adapt the sustainable development. This article was a study of key technology for sustainable design through the patent knowledge mining, aiming to provide technical support and process model to the transformation from traditional products to sustainable products. On the one hand, sustainable design criteria for design goal, life cycle and design strategy are extracted and established through the patent knowledge mining and the product sustainable requirements. On the other hand, the laws of function organization and improvement are extracted by patent knowledge mining and dynamic analysis of function evolution. Then the process model of sustainable product function innovation was put forward by integrating sustainable design criteria, functional evolution laws and TRIZ into traditional function design. Finally, the buckle ring machine was taken as an example to validate the effectiveness of the model.

Exploring Promising Research Frontiers Based on Knowledge Maps in the Solar Cell Technology Field

Given the challenging environmental issues in the energy sector, the importance of strategic research and development (R&D) planning has been emphasized to manage a turbulent business situation. This study aims to propose a methodology for exploring promising research frontiers in the energy sector. To this end, first, core documents are collected from scientific documents such as patents and academic papers. Second, the research frontiers are extracted by clustering the core documents based on the bibliographic relations. Third, a knowledge map is generated by mapping the relations between research frontiers. Finally, the promising research frontiers (RFs) are identified by conducting dynamic analyses and the contents of promising RFs are suggested. As an illustration of the method, the field of solar cell technology is chosen and analyzed As a result, the promising research frontiers from the patent knowledge map are related to development (D) themes and promising research frontiers from scientific paper knowledge map are related to the research (R) themes. The proposed method and results can be utilized by researchers, R&D policy makers, and administrations in practice.

Diretrizes para proteção do conhecimento: um estudo de caso em uma universidade do Estado do Paraná

Introdução: O presente estudo procurou verificar as diretrizes que regulamentam a proteção do conhecimento em uma Universidade no Estado do Paraná, favorecendo o surgimento de inovações no meio acadêmico. Método: O método empregado foi o estudo de caso e a coleta de dados foi realizada em duas etapas. Na primeira etapa, foi realizada uma pesquisa documental, que possibilitou a análise de normas jurídicas que contém as diretrizes para a proteção do conhecimento na Universidade estudada. Na segunda, por meio de entrevistas com pesquisadores e gestores de uma Agência de Inovação, foi possível reunir considerações acerca das normas jurídicas existentes para proteção do conhecimento, abrangendo aspectos normativos e a visibilidade do documento no referido universo. Para o tratamento das informações coletadas, utilizou-se da Técnica de Análise de Conteúdo. Resultados: Os resultados revelam que as diretrizes de proteção do conhecimento existentes estão voltadas essencialmente para a participação dos inventores nos ganhos financeiros. Outros aspectos importantes da propriedade intelectual, como a questão do sigilo, a busca da informação tecnológica, acordos de confidencialidade, normatizações quanto à publicação e o patenteamento, ainda não são contemplados nas diretrizes de proteção ao conhecimento da referida instituição. Conclusão: Conclui-se que possivelmente, a ausência dessas diretrizes colabore para a falta de sensibilização dos pesquisadores para a proteção do conhecimento e inovação, o que é visível no ambiente estudado. Pesquisadores se mostram desprovidos de condições e informações que caracterizem e subsidiem uma cultura voltada para o processo inovativo.

Research and Implementation on Patent Knowledge Modeling Based on TRIZ

Patent is a key knowledge base for product innovation design. The current patent knowledge model and retrieving pattern can not supporting technology innovation sufficiently. TRIZ is a kind of innovation methodology based on patent analysis and there is a congenital relationship between them. Innovation design oriented patent model is researched based on inventive principles, standard solutions, effect and other TRIZ tools. As a Computer Aided Innovation system, Innovation Engine is introduced and developed. The effectiveness is proved by the conceptual design of Cotton Picker. The patent knowledge of cross domain is used successfully by Innovation Engine.

Firm value, spatial knowledge flow, and innovation: evidence from patent citations

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of geographic location of research-intensive firms in the ability to generate new research and products, which consequently affects firm value.Design/methodology/approach– The authors conduct the empirical study following a three-step process. First, if pharmaceutical firms are more likely to cite the patents of other firms and other innovators that are nearby, as opposed to firms and other innovators that are far away, then location (i.e. close proximity) is likely important when it comes to the ability to learn and to use the knowledge being generated by other innovators. The authors employ a “geographic information systems” (GIS) and geo-code each pair of citing and cited patents. In addition, the authors utilize spatial statistics such as Moran’sIto analyze the spatial clustering pattern of patent citations and knowledge flows. Next, the authors measure the pharmaceutical companies’ ability to generate useful patents as a function of the amount of innovation and industrial activity that is occurring close to them. Finally, the authors test whether a firm’s location relates to its firm value. Specifically, the authors model firm value as a function of its patents quality, but the authors also allow the firm’s patents quality to be a function of its location and locational attributes. In this way, the authors establish a link between location and firm value. Using a simultaneous system of equations, the authors find that location explains patent quality, which, in turn, explains firm value. In other words, there is a positive relationship between firm value, innovation and location.Findings– In empirical tests using pharmaceutical firms and their patents, the authors first find that firms more often cite patents of other firms that are geographically closer to them than those firms that are farther away. The authors then find that a patent’s quality is a function of the firm’s near proximity to other knowledge-intensive institutions and activities. Finally, the authors find that because patent quality is a function of a firm’s geographic location, location consequently affects firm value.Research limitations/implications– For knowledge-intensive firms, geographic location matters. More specifically, the authors contend that research-intensive firms are better able to use and to expand on existing knowledge when they are closer to other research-intensive enterprises. The implication is that firm value maximization involves a location factor.Practical implications– The practical implication for investors is that investors should invest in those firms that are situated in a location that is rich in geographic innovation resources because those firms are more likely to generate more and higher quality patents or innovations.Originality/value– The study is the first to establish the linkage among spatial knowledge diffusion, geographic drivers of innovation, and market valuation of the firm. The study is unique in that the authors not only present evidence on spatial knowledge flows by geo-coding the exact longitude and latitude location coordinates of citing and cited patens, but more importantly, the authors also identify geographic drivers of innovation, and examine their impacts on citation-weighted patent counts and knowledge stock. Finally, using a series of simultaneous equations, the authors show how geographic innovation resources positively affect citation-weighted patent stock and knowledge stock and consequently affect market value of the firm. Thus, the novel approach contributes not only to the literature that measures geographic localization of knowledge flow using patent citations, but also to the literature that examines the impact of geographic sources of innovations on patent outputs and patent quality and, thus on firm value for research-intensive firms.

Managing technological knowledge of patents: HCOntology, a semantic approach

Patent data provide technological information essential to define strategies and decisions in the context of firm innovative processes. At present, information regarding patents is usually represented and stored in large databases. Information from these databases is commonly retrieved in the form of files with a CSV- or XML-based codification but with little semantics that enable the inference of further relationships among patents. In these databases, each patent is associated with a technological field by a code. Although the codes assume a hierarchical classification approach, inclusion/subsumption relationships are not explicitly specified such that computers can process them automatically. In recent years, ontologies have been proven to facilitate the exchange of information between people and systems. In this context, the Web Ontology Language (OWL), whose formal semantics are based on description logics, has become the most widely used language for the representation of ontologies. Certain patent ontologies have already been developed in OWL to benefit from the semantics of patent information. However, none have fully exploited the information that can be derived from the formal representation of patent code classification hierarchies through description-logics-based reasoning. This paper presents an approach to automatically translate the hierarchies found in the patent classification codes into concept hierarchies. This proposal also enables the automatic inference of implicit knowledge based on reclassification techniques and relationships between different application domains without changing the applications that make use of patent information. Several examples are presented to illustrate the applicability of the proposal and how it can assist firms in patent information management.

Hegemonic structure of basic, clinical and patented knowledge on Ebola research: a US army reductionist initiative.

BackgroundEbola hemorrhagic fever (Ebola) is still a highly lethal infectious disease long affecting mainly neglected populations in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, this disease is now considered a potential worldwide threat. In this paper, we present an approach to understand how the basic, clinical and patent knowledge on Ebola is organized and intercommunicated and what leading factor could be shaping the evolution of the knowledge translation process for this disease.MethodologyA combination of citation network analysis; analysis of Medical heading Subject (MeSH) and Gene Ontology (GO) terms, and quantitative content analysis for patents and scientific literature, aimed to map the organization of Ebola research was carried out.ResultsWe found six putative research fronts (i.e. clusters of high interconnected papers). Three research fronts are basic research on Ebola virus structural proteins: glycoprotein, VP40 and VP35, respectively. There is a fourth research front of basic research papers on pathogenesis, which is the organizing hub of Ebola research. A fifth research front is pre-clinical research focused on vaccines and glycoproteins. Finally, a clinical-epidemiology research front related to the disease outbreaks was identified. The network structure of patent families shows that the dominant design is the use of Ebola virus proteins as targets of vaccines and other immunological treatments. Therefore, patents network organization resembles the organization of the scientific literature. Specifically, the knowledge on Ebola would flow from higher (clinical-epidemiology) to intermediated (cellular-tissular pathogenesis) to lower (molecular interactions) levels of organization.ConclusionOur results suggest a strong reductionist approach for Ebola research probably influenced by the lethality of the disease. On the other hand, the ownership profile of the patent families network and the main researches relationship with the United State Army suggest a strong involvement of this military institution in Ebola research.

A taxonomy of patent strategies in Taiwan's small and medium innovative enterprises

Abstract An empirical taxonomy of patent strategies for SMEs is proposed in this paper based on a study of 238 innovative SMEs in Taiwan. The taxonomy identifies five categories of patent strategy — comprehensive, exploitative, defensive, reactive, and marginal — by using cluster analysis. This study demonstrates effective use of taxonomies to map the differences in patent strategies among SMEs by industry, firm size, R&D expenditure, and firm innovation. The results show that the larger the SMEs that developed radical innovations were, and the more they spent on R&D, the more likely they were to adopt comprehensive patent strategies. The R&D expenditure of most of the reactive and marginal strategy adopters is lower than that of adopters of the other three strategies. Among SMEs, firms' patent strategies are also correlated with firm size and R&D expenditure, which supports the findings of the existing literature. The taxonomy adds considerable value to our existing knowledge of management patents in SMEs by making our descriptions of patent strategic groups more clear and concise.

Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs) in the primary sector

Purpose – Given the immense gains in productivity in agriculture and mining over the last decades, the purpose of this paper is to study knowledge transfer from Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs) into primary sector producers. The authors inquire which of these RTOs are successfully competing for public funding, and how these funds are used. Also, the authors study what makes an RTO more (financially) successful in technology transfer than their peers and which RTOs transferred technology that was new to the Russian market. Design/methodology/approach – This research is based on 62 RTOs which reported technology transfer to enterprises with main economic activities classified by NACE rev 1 as “A – agriculture, hunting and forestry” and “B – fishing” and “C – mining and quarrying,” including oil and gas extraction. Findings – The authors found remarkable differences between the Russian RTOs and their OECD peers, but also differences between agriculture and mining. Interestingly, competitive funding plays a different role in both industries. In agriculture, a more conservative funding paradigm prevails, and competitive funding is less important and more reliance on classical annually revolving funds is given. Competitive funding here is more used to strengthen basic R&D and to generate patentable knowledge, while in mining, these funds support technology transfer. Originality/value – This is, to the knowledge, the first detailed study on Russian RTOs servicing her primary sector. The authors believe that studying these RTOs is of great value as RTOs are broadly under-researched and various scholars have called for more fine-grained analyses to better understand their role in the innovation system.

Patentes en Instituciones de Educación Superior en México

The objective of this paper is to analyze the factors that influence the production of patents in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Mexico. Academic patents are receiving special attention in knowledge transfer. From the review of the international literature on the main factors that explain patent production we built a database for 60 Mexican universities and have estimated a model taking the institutional characteristics.Existing studies for the U.S. and some European countries show that the institutional framework and the individual characteristics of the universities are important elements in the production of academic patents. The quantitative analysis in this article for a Latin American country can increase knowledge of academic patents and may have implications for the design of policies on science and technology.

Patent citations and knowledge spillovers: an analysis of Chinese patents registered in the USA

This paper examines US patent citation data and analyses how different firms in China affect knowledge spillovers. Patents granted by the US patent office to applicants located in China are collected along with their citation counts. Two kinds of patent citations, namely citations of previous patents and those of non-patent literature, are used to measure knowledge flows. In the empirical analysis, the negative binomial and zero-inflated count models are considered. The regression results suggest the existence of heterogeneity among firms of different ownership. In terms of knowledge spillovers, the US multinational corporations perform better than those from other western countries; Taiwanese companies outperform their counterparts from Hong Kong and Chinese private corporations contribute more than Chinese state-owned enterprises. These results have important policy implications for the development of a knowledge-intensive economy in China.

Patent Knowledge and Stem Cell Scientists

Patent Knowledge and Stem Cell Scientists The knowledge economy is progressing at a rapid pace and increasingly relying on intangible assets as a form of recoupling its investments. Intangible assets include intellectual capital and intellectual property, with an emphasis on patents here. Due to the unawareness about intellectual property rights, researchers, very often, are flying blind unaware of opportunities and threats posed by patents to their research projects. Although, the business acumen of many (private and public) scientists has markedly increased in recent years, large numbers are still left outside the patent loop of opportunities and knowledge of obstacles to their research. Knowledge about patents carries important implications for all researchers and those responsible for science and technology policy making.

User Needs Survey and Analysis for Development of National R&D Information Navigation Service - A Focus on Patent Knowledge Map and Mobile App Development -

User Needs Survey and Analysis for Development of National R&D Information Navigation Service - A Focus on Patent Knowledge Map and Mobile App Development -

A framework of product innovative design process based on TRIZ and Patent Circumvention

Product innovative design process is complex and requires innovative methods and knowledge to support. TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) and Patent Circumvention can help to find innovative solutions using patent knowledge. However, so far no method has been proposed to integrate TRIZ and Patent Circumvention effectively. Therefore, this paper proposes an innovative design process based on TRIZ and Patent Circumvention which consists of four stages, including Initiate Problem Description, Problem Identification, Problem-Solving, and Specific Solution. The advantages of the framework include integrating Modern TRIZ tools to identify key problems for innovation, effectively using Patent Circumvention technology to adopt or walk around competitor's patent solution. Then, a case study is proposed to test the efficiency of the approach. At the end, recommendations for future research are suggested.

Technological Relatedness and Knowledge Space: Entry and Exit of US Cities from Patent Classes

Rigby D. L. Technological relatedness and knowledge space: entry and exit of US cities from patent classes, Regional Studies. US patent and citation data are used to measure technological relatedness between major patent classes in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The technological relatedness measures, constructed as the probability that a patent in class j will cite a patent in class i, form the links of a knowledge network. Changes in this knowledge network are examined from 1975 to 2005. Evolution of the patent knowledge base within US metropolitan areas is tracked by combining the knowledge network with annual patent data for each city. Entries and exits of cities from patent classes are linked to local and non-local measures of technological relatedness.