A New Comprehensive Patent Analysis Approach for New Product Design in Mechanical Engineering

This study proposes a five-phase procedure for a new product design process. Based on the concept of “focus first, then extend”, this study presents a new approach called the New Comprehensive Patent Analysis model (NCPA) which combines the patent family with patent citation analysis in a new product design process. The procedure includes the following features: (1) integrating the perspective of management-based and technology-based design for patent searching, (2) building a patent family based on industry basic patents, (3) filtering the patent family to obtain key patents, (4) utilizing patent citations to gain necessary technology information in product development design, and (5) combining TRIZ theory to construct patent technology performance maps, and to discover product niches. This NCPA model is empirically applied in a real case. The results show that the NCPA improves the overall efficiency of new product designs, but also involves higher cost than other approaches.     

Technological innovation and diffusion of wind power in Japan

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the diffusion of wind power in Japan by focusing on the value chain and the interaction between technology and markets and to contribute towards recommendations on technology policy and management. This paper proposes a framework for analyzing the early stage diffusion of wind power systems by combining the use of several approaches considering wind power system as a complex technological system. Firstly, the business system approach is used as an analytical framework by focusing on efficiency, effectiveness and development criteria. As a second approach, the technological trajectory was analyzed based on the concept of technological disequilibrium and the evolutionary patterns of innovation of wind power generation systems were analyzed and the relationship between innovations at the sub-system, modular, and system level was identified. We apply the framework to investigate why wind power diffusion has not picked up momentum in Japan.The results include the following: (1) Technological imbalances within the product system were solved by technological innovation (2) The wind power business in Japan is insufficiently effective due to organizational disequilibrium (3) The technology system has begun to evolve in the direction of micro grid systems. (4) It is important to consider the demand-pull measures for wind power generation so that Japanese institution can have a “time slot” for ”learning by doing” to catch up and accelerate diffusion of wind power generation, including institutional reform of RPS law. Also further technological development related to stabilizing unstable wind energy is required.     

How well do patent citations measure flows of technology? Evidence from French innovation surveys

Patent citation data are used in a growing body of economics and business research on technological diffusion. Until now, there exists little evidence on whether patent citations are a good measure of knowledge flows. Our paper assesses the legitimacy of using European patent citations as a measure of technology flows. It uses information from the Community Innovation Survey collected by the French Service des Statistiques Industrielles (SESSI), which contain firms’ responses to questions about their innovative activity. We show that patent citations are indeed related to firms’ statements about their acquisition and dispersion of new technology, but that the strength and statistical significance of this relationship varies across geographical regions and across channels of knowledge diffusion.     

New functionality development through follower substitution for a leader in open innovation

There has been a paradigm shift to a knowledge-oriented economy in the 21st century. Consequently, there has also been a shift in where innovation typically occurs. This shift has been from the production site toward the process of product diffusion. That is, innovation occurs more frequently at the point at which a product or service is moved into the marketplace where it is immediately modified through customer interaction. In this process, new “functionality” — services, the delivery method or even product changes occur in the diffusion process. Given the need to constantly create new value through new product “functionality” or new “functionality development”, firm strategy must address the issue of how to enhance innovation at this new locus — the diffusion process. Sustainable new functionality development over time has become crucial to a firm's competitiveness. In this context, firms have to develop new functionality as early and quickly as possible; leveraging whatever innovation exists in the marketplace. According to theory, the early emergence of functionality development in this context depends on a dynamic system in which the imitator (follower) is constantly substituting for the innovator (leader). This substitution corresponds to the dynamics observed in the process referred to as “open innovation”. According to this theory, functionality development through follower substitution for a leader would be critical for a firm's competitiveness in the open innovation environment. Furthermore, open innovation could be a process for sustaining the ongoing creation of new value through functionality development maximizing limited resources. This paper attempts to demonstrate this hypothesis through an empirical analysis of this process of substitution in major innovative goods and services in Japan.     

Technology product evolution and the diffusion of new product features

The evolution of technology products can be analysed on multiple levels. Product categories go through continuous evolution determined by the cumulative changes in the features of new product models. This is manifested in the diffusion of new product features and in the increasingly vague boundaries between different product generations. This article develops an approach for planning and forecasting technology product evolution and the diffusion of new product features. This is achieved by isolating the phenomena underlying the evolution process, and formulating the process at the product category, product feature, and product model levels. The approach is derived from these formulations combining the primarily demand-driven product category diffusion and product unit replacement behaviour, and the more supply-driven product feature dissemination. The approach enables meaningful sensitivity analysis including the analysis of discontinuities. The developed approach is applied to characterise the evolution of an example product category of mobile handsets and to forecast the diffusion of mobile handset features using extensive longitudinal and cross-sectional data collected from Finland. In consequence, the process of technology product evolution and the phenomenon of product feature dissemination are suggested as extensions to research on product category diffusion and replacement.     

Exploring technology diffusion and classification of business methods: Using the patent citation network

Among the many technology forecasting indicators, patents and patent citations are useful and important indicators. The more frequently a certain patent is cited by subsequent patents, the more the related technology can be said to be diffused, implying that the technology is more widely applied and thus more valuable. This paper analyzes the business methods technology which retrieves patents from the USPTO database. There are two purposes of this paper: 1. establish the indicators for finding basic patents and measure the relationship of these basic patents; 2. classify the basic patents and explain the groups of technology diffusion. Finally, this study identifies the two mainstreams in business method technology: one is focused on marketing technology, and the other one stresses on data security. Both are important for Internet data processes or e-commerce activities.     

A new definition and framework for the development of a national technology strategy: The case of nanotechnology for Iran

In this research, we use the concepts of “national technology policy” as well as the “firm technology strategy” in defining a new definition for “national technology strategy”. Then, by examining several national technology strategies in a variety of fields in different countries the national nanotechnology strategy for Iran is developed. Furthermore, using capability-effectiveness matrix and SWOT analysis we identify strategies of nanotechnology development in Iran. Finally, considering other countries' strategies and the results of PROMETHEE Method, we prioritize different areas of nanotechnology for Iranian economy, and test for the validity of the extracted strategies.     

Monitoring the organic structure of technology based on the patent development paths

As the strategic importance of understanding changes in technology for successful business of most firms increases, the ability to analyze and monitor the current stage and history of technology is reckoned as a critical asset both for gaining competitive advantage and identifying promising niches. Patent citation networks have been widely used for systematic and empirical analysis of technology development. Understanding of technology's detailed changes in large patent citation networks, however, is difficult to achieve because of these networks' large and complex structures. To overcome this problem, we suggest an algorithm that identifies patent development paths from a large patent citation network by evaluating the weight of citations between patents. We then apply this algorithm to flash memory patents in an empirical study. Our algorithm is a new methodology that can be used to analyze the dynamic and complex structure of individual technologies.     

Multigeneration diffusion model for economic assessment of new technology

In the era of 21st century, development of emerging information technology is the essence of the advancement. This kind of new technology, however, often requires a great deal of amount of initial investment for both procedures of R&D and commercialization. As cost invested in developing the specified technology is increasing, investors are paying more attention to cost to benefit analysis (CBA). One of the basic elements of CBA for new technological development is the diffusion pattern of demand of such technology. Typically, it would be hard to presume the diffusion pattern of demand when the new product or the technology is under development. In this case, a simulation study is necessary. Many studies of technology evaluation have adopted a single generation model to simulate the diffusion pattern of demand. This approach, however, considers the diffusion of the new technology itself, not taking into account newer generation, which can replace the one just invented. In the real market situation, one must consider the competition and substitution phenomena between old and new technologies. In this paper, we show how multigeneration technology diffusion model can be applied for more accurate CBA for information technology. Additionally, Monte Carlo simulation is performed to find influential factors on the CBA of a cybernetic building system (CBS).     

Is inventor network structure a predictor of cluster evolution?

Geographical clusters are significant drivers of regional economic growth and competitiveness in today's economy. Recent studies have shown that geographically limited knowledge diffusion which results from inventor movements within clusters is a facilitating factor to regional innovation output and therefore to the development of clusters. However, it remains unclear whether the dynamics of inventor movements can be used as an indicator for different stages of cluster progression. In this study, using patent co-authorship data, we construct inventor networks for two telecom clusters, New Jersey and Texas. Based on the longitudinal analysis of inventor network properties and interviews with the key inventors maintaining the networks, we seek to gain a better understanding of 1) how the properties of inventor networks across the two clusters reflect their difference in fundamental “typology” of clusters; and 2) are the patterns of inventor network structures and properties over time indicative of the change in viability of the clusters. Our findings suggest that the cluster “typology” is a key factor determining the structure of the inventor networks in a geographical cluster. Over time, as the economic and social conditions of a cluster change, the regional inventor networks change their performance accordingly. Importantly, the cluster “typology” may be a significant moderating factor for the relationship between the inventor network performance and the cluster's development.     

Business planning based on technological capabilities: Patent analysis for technology-driven roadmapping

This research responds to the needs of technology-driven business by focusing on how firms can find new business opportunities based on their technological capabilities. It proposes a technology-driven roadmapping processes that starts from capability analysis for technology planning and ends with business opportunity analysis for market planning. We suggest the use of patent data as a proxy measure of technological capability for this purpose and develop four analysis modules — Monitoring, Collaboration, Diversification, and Benchmarking — to support decision-making during the process. Various analysis techniques such as text-mining, network analysis, citation analysis and index analysis are applied to discover meaningful implications from the patent data, which are summarized in four maps — Actor-similarity map, Actor-relations map, Technology-industry map, and Technology-affinity map. For the purpose of illustration, RFID-related patents are collected and the 18 firms with the most patents used, focusing especially on the third biggest. We believe using roadmapping and patent analysis together can play complementary roles for each other. Putting roadmapping techniques together with patent analysis can increase the objectivity and reliability of technology roadmap, while using patent analysis restricted to technological information together with roadmapping techniques can ensure that a more valuable breadth of strategic information is extracted from patents.     

Firms in New Technologies: The Case of Superconductivity

This article deals with three main questions. First, what types of firms are engaged in the development and exploitation of a young and perhaps future key technology? Second, on which subfields of that particular technology do certain types of firms concentrate? Third, are there any differences in industry structure and firm activity with respect to national technology policies? These aspects are discussed in terms of a case study on superconductivity. The article is empirical in character. The main pillar of the analysis rests on European patent applications, which we use for comparisons among the United States, Japan, and Germany at the corporate and national levels. To discover differences in national technology policies and their impact on corporate activity, we screened available information on sources, volumes, and aims of national programs concerning superconductivity. The period covered ranges from 1981 to 1992 and thus includes the “paradigm” shift to high-temperature superconductivity around 1987. We find that large multinational firms account for the largest part of all external patent applications in this area. Another outcome of the analysis clearly points to rising shares of patenting by small firms after the technological breakthrough in 1987. But most of these small firms have confined their activities to the national environment so far. One possible explanation may be found in differences in national technology programs supporting the start-up new firms in niche markets. Most of these small new firms are located in the United States, where public programs have created favorable conditions and an increasing domestic demand for them. Thus, although the development of new technologies is increasingly international in scope, current industry patterns and firms’ traditional specialization in related fields of activity still determine the building up of new science- and technology-based industries. At least in the United States, however, the impact of national technology policy may be felt widely in creating new and shaping existing structures in favor of more competition and faster diffusion.     

Monitoring trends of technological changes based on the dynamic patent lattice: A modified formal concept analysis approach

The strategic importance of monitoring technological changes is highlighted given the ever faster pace and increasing complexity of technological innovation. In this respect, patent citation analysis has been the most frequently adopted tool among others. However, patent citation analysis is subject to certain drawbacks that stem from only consideration of citing-cited information and time lags between citing and cited patents. This study proposes a formal concept analysis (FCA)-based approach to developing a dynamic patent lattice that can analyze complex relations among patents and monitor trends of technological changes. The FCA is a mathematical tool for grouping objects with shared properties based on the lattice theory. The distinct strengths of FCA, vis-á-vis other methods, lie in structuring and displaying the relations among objects from a massive amount of data. For the purpose of technology monitoring, the FCA is modified to take into account time periods and changes of patent keywords. A patent context is first constructed with the aid of domain experts and text mining technique. Two types of dynamic patent lattices are then developed by executing the modified FCA algorithm. A case study of laser technology in lithography for semiconductor manufacturing shows that the suggested dynamic patent lattice has considerable advantages over conventional patent citation maps in terms of visualization and informative power.     

Modelling a dynamic market potential: A class of automata networks for diffusion of innovations

Innovation diffusion processes are generally described at aggregate level with models like the Bass Model (BM) and the Generalized Bass Model (GBM). However, the recognized importance of communication channels between agents has recently suggested the use of agent-based models, like Cellular Automata. We argue that an adoption or purchase process is nested in a communication network that evolves dynamically and indirectly generates a latent non-constant market potential affecting the adoption phase.Using Cellular Automata we propose a two-stage model of an innovation diffusion process. First we describe a communication network, an Automata Network, necessary for the “awareness” of an innovation. Then, we model a nested process depicting the proper purchase dynamics. Through a mean field approximation we propose a continuous representation of the discrete time equations derived by our nested two-stage model. This constitutes a special non-autonomous Riccati equation, not yet described in well-known international catalogues. The main results refer to the closed form solution that includes a general dynamic market potential and to the corresponding statistical analysis for identification and inference. We discuss an application to the diffusion of a new pharmaceutical drug.     

Measuring emerging categories of innovation: Modularity and business model

The oft-cited dichotomy between incremental and radical innovations is less important when we have to analyze how a new technology and its social institution coevolve. In this context, besides incremental and radical innovations, C. Freeman added two more categories of technical change: one is change in the technology system and the other is change in the technoeconomic paradigm.However, as the information technology (IT) revolution progresses further, we come to need more categories of innovations. In the computer industry, the concept of “module” is becoming a solution to growing complexity. In the new IT environment, we can be proactive in demand creation. It becomes crucial, therefore, whether the creation of new “business models” has followed technical innovations. In this article, we will try to demonstrate how these different categories of innovations, i.e., modularization and new business model creation, can be measured.     

Regulation and pricing of pharmaceuticals: Reference pricing or price cap regulation?

We study the relationship between regulatory regimes and pharmaceutical firms’ pricing strategies using a unique policy experiment in Norway, which in 2003 introduced a reference price (RP) system called “index pricing” for a sub-sample of off-patent pharmaceuticals, replacing the existing price cap (PC) regulation. We estimate the effect of the reform using a product level panel dataset, covering the drugs exposed to RP and a large number of drugs still under PC regulation in the time before and after the policy change. Our results show that RP significantly reduces both brand-name and generic prices within the reference group, with the effect being stronger for brand-names. We also identify a negative cross-price effect on therapeutic substitutes not included in the RP system. In terms of policy implications, the results suggest that RP is more effective than PC regulation in lowering drug prices, while the cross-price effect raises a concern about patent protection.     

International diffusion of embodied and disembodied technology: A network analysis approach

This study proposes a quantitative method for investigating the structure of international technology diffusion. By using network analysis, this study defines the structural configuration of each country within the international diffusion network by measuring its degree, closeness, and betweenness centralities. In addition, this study distinguishes between embodied technology diffusion, measured by multilateral trade, and disembodied technology diffusion, measured by patent citations, in individual countries. This study empirically tests a sample data set of international technology diffusion taken from 48 countries. The empirical results show that the structural configuration of countries exhibits similar patterns in both embodied and disembodied diffusion networks. Significant global stratification patterns exist in the capability of national international technology exportation and brokerage advantages. Moreover, this study distinguishes four blocks of countries that play different roles in international technology diffusion: the leading countries provide a source of technological knowledge; an intermediate group diffuses the knowledge acquired from the source; a third group is in the process of initiating the export of technological knowledge; and a final group of countries absorbs technological knowledge without reciprocal exportation. Finally, this study identifies two types of catch-up strategies that newly industrialized or developing countries can use to move up the international technology stratification.     

Exploring potential R&D collaboration partners through patent analysis based on bibliographic coupling and latent semantic analysis

The aim of the present research is to provide a new systematic methodology to explore potential Research and Development (R&D) collaboration partners using patent information. The potential R&D collaboration partners are visualised as a patent assignee level map based on technological similarity between patents by using the network analysis. The proposed framework utilises two analytic methods to measure technological similarity. The first method, bibliographic coupling analysis, measures technological similarity based on the citation relationship using patent bibliographic information. Second, latent semantic analysis is utilised based on semantic similarity using patent textual information. The fuel cell membrane electrode assembly technology field is selected and applied to illustrate the proposed methodology. The proposed approach allows firms, universities, research institutes and governments to identify potential R&D collaborators as a systematic decision-making support tool.     

Trajectory patterns of technology fusion: Trend analysis and taxonomical grouping in nanobiotechnology

The potential of technology fusion has been advanced as a promising breakthrough function to create hybrid technologies. Despite its importance, however, the evolutionary path of technology fusion is yet unexplored. In this paper, by employing the case of nanobiotechnology, we attempt to deepen understanding of the development trajectories of technology fusion in three important aspects. The first aspect is the development of an index that measures the degree of fusion of cross-disciplinary technology at the meso level. The second aspect is to classify the trajectory patterns of technology fusion in terms of fusion degree. We analyze fusion mechanism by utilizing citation network analysis. The third aspect is to visualize the relationship between patents and their backward and forward patent citations, at the patent class level, with their direction on a citation map. This facilitates understanding of the overview as well as fusion patterns. The changes in fusion patterns are analyzed using time series comparisons. An empirical analysis in the nanobiotechnology field shows no positive relationship between the inflow and outflow degree of fusion. We also observe changes in the trajectory patterns of fusion over time. Analysis demonstrates that each fusion pattern has evolved in such a way that technologies focus more on their niche technologies, and that those technologies which cannot incorporate the technology fusion have been eliminated during the development process.     

A fuzzy multiple criteria comparison of technology forecasting methods for predicting the new materials development

New materials have been recognized as key drivers for corporate profitability and growth in today's fast changing environments. To predict correctly the development of the new materials becomes a critical issue. However, little has been done in discussing the selection of technology forecasting methods for the new materials development. Accordingly, this study adopted the fuzzy AHP method to obtain professional's opinions on this issue. The efforts result in seven evaluation criteria with one, the “data validity” having the highest weight, followed by “method adaptability” and “technology predictability”. Delphi method and case study method are the two most applicable technology forecasting methods for predicting the new materials development.