Nanotechnology patenting in China and Germany:a comparison of patent landscapes by bibliographic analyses

This article gives a general overview on the patent landscapes of China and Germany within the emerging field of nanotechnology. A keyword based search, using the search term “nano”, on SciFinder Scholar™ for the time period of 1985 to 2007 leads to 51,490 patent references overall and 12,979 Chinese and 2,901 German ones respectively. Bibliographic analyses focus on the historical trends in nanotechnology patenting as well as on major patent applicants, technological fields and international patenting strategies in China and Germany. They illustrate an above-average growth rate in nanotechnology patents for China, but a rather below-average one for Germany. Major differences in regard to the role of universities and research institutes in applied research and therefore as patent applicants are similarly emphasized as diverging international patenting strategies. Implications for future Chinese-German collaborations in applied nanotechnology research and potential improvements for future analyses are discussed.<br

A new framework to assess industry convergence in high technology environments

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd The process of convergence, from science and technology convergence to that of markets as well as entire industries can be witnessed in a range of different high technology environments such as IT and NanoBiotech. Although this phenomenon has been subject of analysis in an increasing number of studies, the notion of industry convergence – the final step of a full convergence process - still lacks a common definition. The missing conceptual definition of what industry convergence really is and how it can be assessed impedes both analyses and monitoring - let alone its anticipation. To address the missing conceptual definition of the final step in convergence, this paper seeks to develop a framework based on novel indicators that enable identifying and monitoring trends of industry convergence in high technology environments. Building on indicators in the domain of collaboration, a framework, which distinguishes different stages and types of industry convergence is developed. Subsequently, the newly developed framework is empirically illustrated in the area of stationary energy storage based on publicly available data. To this end, the full text database Nexis is used to conduct a search in news reports on collaborations in the domain of stationary energy storage. The study contributes to the growing body of convergence literature by providing a novel framework allowing the identification of not only industry convergence as the final step of the convergence process but also the classification of its type. Practical implications include an orientation for companies in converging environments on when and how to close the resulting technology and market competence gaps

Nanotechnology patenting in China and Germany:a comparison of patent landscapes by bibliographic analyses

This article gives a general overview on the patent landscapes of China and Germany within the emerging field of nanotechnology. A keyword based search, using the search term “nano”, on SciFinder Scholar™ for the time period of 1985 to 2007 leads to 51,490 patent references overall and 12,979 Chinese and 2,901 German ones respectively. Bibliographic analyses focus on the historical trends in nanotechnology patenting as well as on major patent applicants, technological fields and international patenting strategies in China and Germany. They illustrate an above-average growth rate in nanotechnology patents for China, but a rather below-average one for Germany. Major differences in regard to the role of universities and research institutes in applied research and therefore as patent applicants are similarly emphasized as diverging international patenting strategies. Implications for future Chinese-German collaborations in applied nanotechnology research and potential improvements for future analyses are discussed.<br

A MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVE ON FACTORS AFFECTING TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER FROM ACADEMIA TO INDUSTRY IN THE BIOECONOMY

In the bioeconomy, technology transfer from academia to industry may exploit its strong innovation potential. However, this process is challenged by a wide variety of factors. This paper uses the mixed-method approach of concept mapping to investigate the factors as perceived by multiple stakeholders that influence technology transfer in the bioeconomy. Our findings suggest that the interconnectedness and the perceived individual factors vary across the different stakeholders involved. Based on our findings, we discuss practical implications both for the involved stakeholders and particularly for policy makers on how to achieve effective technology transfer in the bioeconomy

Anticipating industry convergence: semantic analyses vs IPC co-classification analyses of patents

Purpose – The convergence of industries exposes the involved firms to various challenges. In such a setting, a firm's response time becomes key to its future success. Hence, different approaches to anticipating convergence have been developed in the recent past. So far, especially IPC co-classification patent analyses have been successfully applied in different industry settings to anticipate convergence on a broader industry/technology level. Here, the aim is to develop a concept to anticipate convergence even in small samples, simultaneously providing more detailed information on its origin and direction. Design/methodology/approach – The authors assigned 326 US-patents on phytosterols to four different technological fields and measured the semantic similarity of the patents from the different technological fields. Finally, they compared these results to those of an IPC co-classification analysis of the same patent sample. Findings – An increasing semantic similarity of food and pharmaceutical patents and personal care and pharmaceutical patents over time could be regarded as an indicator of convergence. The IPC co-classification analyses proved to be unsuitable for finding evidence for convergence here. Originality/value – Semantic analyses provide the opportunity to analyze convergence processes in greater detail, even if only limited data are available. However, IPC co-classification analyses are still relevant in analyzing large amounts of data. The appropriateness of the semantic similarity approach requires verification, e.g. by applying it to other convergence settings. </jats:sec