Using PageRank in the analysis of technological progress through patents: an illustration for biotechnological inventions (original) (raw)
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Scientometrics
This paper analysed the citations of patents to science-and non-science-based references as an agency of the linkage between technology and science. A review of the literature identified a variety of techniques of measuring science linkage (SL) with various results. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the differences between science-based SL and nonscience-based linkage (NSL). Patent data were collected from the United States Patent and Trademark Office database for the past two decades. Results showed a phenomenon of rapidly growing NSL of patents at different levels of technological fields and firms. In addition, field-and firm-specific differences in the linkages between science and technology were identified. This study analysed various types of SL performances of the top 20 firms in the Computers and Communications field and found that science-technology linkages were stronger in Lucent, Mitsubishi and Microsoft. It is worth noting that Texas Instruments (TI) was ranked thirteenth in science-based SL but third in Relative SL Ratio. Based on the Relative SL Ratio, TI's science-based SL was much higher than its NSL.
Research Policy, 2010
Recent empirical findings have questioned the use of patent citations as a measure. This points to the need of validation of patent citations methodologies, which we address by testing a recent methodology for studying technological evolution, namely connectivity analysis of citation networks. We find connectivity analysis to be a valid tool to identify the reliable knowledge which opens the way to further technological evolution of a surgical prosthesis, the artificial spinal disc. We also illustrate how connectivity analysis represents how this reliable knowledge differs depending on the stage of technological evolution. The corroborated validity of connectivity analysis of patent citations may trigger a renaissance in the use of this kind of patent data.
Patent Citation Networks Revisited: Signs of a Twenty-First Century Change?
This Article reports an empirical study of the network composed of patent “nodes” and citation “links” between them. It builds on an earlier study in which we argued that trends in the growth of the patent citation network provide evidence that the explosive growth in patenting in the late twentieth century was due at least in part to the issuance of increasingly trivial patents. We defined a measure of patent stratification based on comparative probability of citation; an increase in this measure suggests that the USPTO is issuing patents of comparatively less technological significance. Provocatively, we found that stratification increased in the 1990s during the “patent explosion.” Here we report a further study indicating that the trend toward increasing stratification leveled off beginning around 2000. This observation suggests that there was a de facto tightening of patentability standards well before the doctrinal shifts reflected in the Supreme Court’s flurry of patent activ...
Inventive progress measured by multi-stage patent citation analysis
Research Policy, 2005
Studies of technological change constitute a field of growing importance and sophistication. In this paper we contribute to the discussion with a methodological reflection and application of multi-stage patent citation analysis for the measurement of inventive progress. Investigating specific patterns of patent citation data, we conclude that single-stage citation analysis cannot reveal technological paths or lineages. Therefore, one should also make use of indirect citations and bibliographical coupling. To measure aspects of cumulative inventive progress, we develop a "shared specialization measure" of patent families. We relate this measure to an expert rating of the technological value added in the field of variable valve actuation for internal combustion engines. In sum, the study presents promising evidence for multi-stage patent citation analysis in order to explain aspects of technological change.
A hybrid model for the patent citation network structure
Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2019
Percolation theory on the patent citation network is studied and the percolation threshold points are identified. The results show that there is a significant change of the threshold throughout our dataset years, implying changes in the formation process of the patent citation network. There is a first shift at around 2001, and a very delayed transition point after 2008. Giant component formation in such networks is an indication of the existence of inter-disciplinary patents. In order to explain the changes observed, a hybrid model for creating networks is suggested here. The model is based on a combination of random networks and preferential attachment. It is also compared with results from the well-known configuration model. The hybrid model fits better the data of the patent citation network, rather than a single scale-free or a single Erdős-Rényi network, and explains the increase in preferential attachment in later years. Both the degree distribution and the results of the analysis through percolation theory agree well with real data. This enables the formation of a plausible explanation for the structural changes of the patent citation network's evolution.
Prediction of emerging technologies based on analysis of the US patent citation network
Scientometrics, 2012
The network of patents connected by citations is an evolving graph, which provides a representation of the innovation process. A patent citing another implies that the cited patent reflects a piece of previously existing knowledge that the citing patent builds upon. A methodology presented here (i) identifies actual clusters of patents: i.e. technological branches, and (ii) gives predictions about the temporal changes of the structure of the clusters. A predictor, called the citation vector, is defined for characterizing technological development to show how a patent cited by other patents belongs to various industrial fields. The clustering technique adopted is able to detect the new emerging recombinations, and predicts emerging new technology clusters. The predictive ability of our new method is illustrated on the example of USPTO subcategory 11, Agriculture, Food, Textiles.
Journal of Data and Information Science, 2017
Purpose First, to review the state-of-the-art in patent citation analysis, particularly characteristics of patent citations to scientific literature (scientific non-patent references, SNPRs). Second, to present a novel mapping approach to identify technology-relevant research based on the papers cited by and referring to the SNPRs. Design/methodology/approach In the review part we discuss the context of SNPRs such as the time lags between scientific achievements and inventions. Also patent-to-patent citation is addressed particularly because this type of patent citation analysis is a major element in the assessment of the economic value of patents. We also review the research on the role of universities and researchers in technological development, with important issues such as universities as sources of technological knowledge and inventor-author relations. We conclude the review part of this paper with an overview of recent research on mapping and network analysis of the science a...
The evolution of patent mining: Applying bibliometrics analysis and keyword network analysis
World Patent Information, 2016
Text mining methods allow researchers to investigate technical documents (tech mining) and specifically explore patents for valuable information (patent mining. To the review literature and analyze the evolution of patent analysis and patent mining methods, bibliometrics analysis and keyword-based network analysis is applied on 143 papers extracted from the 'Web of science' database. Bibliometrics analysis was applied to determine top players researching in patent mining. Applying cluster analysis on the keyword network shows three main stages of patent analysis evolution. Also, it is discussed how patent mining is evolutionized in terms of information retrieval, pattern recognition and pattern analysis.