The core‐peripheral structure of international knowledge flows: evidence from patent citation data

The importance of knowledge diffusion and external knowledge is generally acknowledged for their vital role to innovation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the international knowledge diffusion structure and its evolution using patent citation networks for three periods. The analyses are carried out from overall, active cluster as well as individual connection perspectives with the help of measures from social network analysis. Results show an obvious core‐peripheral structure of international knowledge diffusion. Most of the flows happen within core group. Knowledge flows between core and peripheral numbers also widely exist but not strong, while the flows among peripheral numbers are both sparse and weak. Significant improvements widely exist among Asian countries and regions according to their knowledge absorption and influence capacities, and Chinese Taiwan and South Korea are the most outstanding new stars among them with worthwhile experiences for other catch‐ups. It also suggests that BRICS and South–South knowledge linkages play an increased role in developing and emerging economy innovation systems as they gain momentum.