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Scientific papers and patents are reliable sources of knowledge carriers for measuring science and technology advances, predicting technological trends, and formulating technology strategies. Although the idea of entirely using the two knowledge carriers is rapidly emerging in academic discussion, a theoretical framing of the comparisons is still not present in literature. This study conducts bibliometrics on 2986 patent families and 4755 scientific papers related to silicon carbide metal–oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (SiC-MOSFET) to identify its technological trends and compare the similarities and differences in knowledge generation and diffusion in science and technology. Our methodological framework consists of a combination of geographic distribution (identifying the research developments and distribution), cooperation networks (analyzing organisation collaboration and individual research cooperation), noun phrase co-occurrence clusters (discovering hot research topics), and the global main path analyses of citation networks (tracking the trajectory of knowledge flows). Ultimately, our results contribute to recent bibliometric paradigms beyond discovering the role of scientific papers and patents in promoting science and technology integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reveal the current status and future trends of lubricant additives, this study analyzes the structured and unstructured data of 77701 lubricant additive patents recorded by Patsnap. The results show that China is the country with the largest number of patents in this field, and the United States is the main exporting country of international technology flow; the current research and development of lubricant additives is dominated by multifunctional composite additives; environmentally friendly additive compositions are the current research hotspot; and more environmentally friendly and economically degradable additives have more development potential in the future. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of the research and application of lubricant additives and contributes to the future development of the lubricant industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable intensification (SI) responds to the concurrent challenges of increasing food production while reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture. As an early disclosure of innovation, patents are a useful indicator of technology market potential. However, we lack understanding of the extent to which current agricultural technology patents relate to the goals of SI and which kinds of technologies can potentially address SI. Here, we analyzed the diffusion and focus of more than one million patents issued during the period 1970–2022. We explored the degree to which the patents relate to SI through the co-occurrence of efficiency and environmental friendliness targets. Our results reveal that while the rate of patent issuance has dramatically increased over the past five decades, the rate at which patents diffused to different countries had decreased over time. The USA was the biggest net exporter of patents and had produced by far the most high-impact patents (in the top 1% most-cited patents). Since 1970, only 4% of agricultural patents and 6% of high-impact patents were related to SI targets (i.e., promoting both agricultural efficiency and environmental friendliness), but the attention to SI has increased over time. The most highly cited SI-related patents had become more diverse over time, shifting from digital, machine, and energy technologies in 1980s to the current era of agroecology, information, and computer networking. Our results provide an early indication of promising technologies that may play a greater role for SI in the future, subject to the challenges of market transfer and farm adoption and complemented by non-technological innovations in farm management and institutional support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological upgradation is the driving force of social and economic development. Although technological upgradation is extensively needed, it is characterised as high intelligence, high investment, and high risk. In the face of complex market competition patterns, industrial enterprises urgently need to seek external cooperation and achieve sustainable competitive advantage. However, the current digital systems of patents fail to fulfil efficiency improvement from technology transfer to research and development (R&D) cooperation for industrial enterprise. Nor does it provide adequate support for industrial enterprises' technological upgradation. Therefore, this research proposes a systematic framework that combines nautral language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) technologies, including the patent recommendation model, patent transferability evaluation model, and research team detection model. Such a digital system of patents improves the efficiency of technology transactions and R&D cooperation with research institutions for industrial enterprises to identify related authorised patents and locate technology research teams. It is also expected that the developed system will enable research institutions to recommend valuable patents and transfer innovative technologies effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of the technical cooperation mode in the field of hydrogen energy is of great importance in guiding technological innovation. Based on the social network analysis (SNA) and spatial network method, this paper constructs the technical cooperation graph of China's industry-university-research (IUR) tripartites in the field of hydrogen technology. Based on the performed graphs, it shows the game and evolution of hydrogen technology innovation in three stages, respectively 2000–2010, 2011–2015 and 2016–2019. Meanwhile, this paper calculates the changes of network indicators and found that: (1) the network density showed a downward trend, from the initial 0.062 to 0.003. (2) The degree centrality of the network decreased from 14.7% to 5.7%. (3) The average path length and clustering coefficient indicate that the internal connections within the network were relatively close from 2000 to 2010, and had small-world characteristics. From 2016 to 2019, although the clustering coefficient increased, the average path length also increased significantly, indicating that the internal connections of the network did not become closer. From the network characteristics, the collaborative innovation network of China's hydrogen energy industry continues to expand in scale and scope, and the cooperation relationship is stable. However, it shows the characteristics of low network density and loose cooperation relationship, gradually developing into a scale-free network. Developed provinces and cities in North and East China occupy core positions in the industry-university-research network, while other regions are gradually expanding their cooperation efficiency; however, the overall cooperation frequency is relatively low in Northeast China, and most provinces and cities in South and Northwest China are in edge positions with poor collaboration capabilities. • Network analysis sheds light on China's hydrogen energy tech cooperation via patent. • Collaborative innovation in hydrogen technology evolves through three stages. • Tight internal connections with small-world properties seen in network (2000–2010). • Network's internal connections didn't become closer (2016–2019). • Network transforms from a stable and expanding structure into a scale-free network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy blockchain is a platform based on blockchain technology, creating a secure, transparent, and decentralized system for peer-to-peer transactions and automated smart contracts. This platform has the ability to facilitate the exchange and management of energy resources, such as electricity or renewable energy certificates. Our research aims to clarify the growth trends of energy systems with blockchain technology throughout the world. The novelty of this study is to understand the main factor in energy blockchain patent granting using a patent decomposition analysis and log mean Divisia index analysis and discover the relative importance in the R&D shift from electricity to other technology. Additionally, the IPC for energy blockchain technology primarily focuses on configuring and managing energy systems, including electricity, gas, and water supply. We also present a comprehensive overview of how countries and companies engage with energy blockchain technology and find China leads with 59% of patents, followed by the U.S. with 20%, but their specific tech shares differ. Participants span beyond traditional energy sectors, including electric and electronic machinery, IT firms, transport manufacturers, startups, and universities dedicated to blockchain technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the patterns of technology transfer from Britain to France during the early phases of industrializing using a dataset comprising all patents granted in France in the period 1791–1844. Exploiting the peculiarities of French legislation, we construct an array of patent quality indicators and investigate their determinants. We find that patents filed by British inventors or French inventors with personal connections to British inventors were of relatively higher quality. Overall, our results show that the French innovation system was capable of attracting and effectively absorbing key technologies from Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective of the study: To evaluate in a statistical, temporal and comparative way, the competitiveness among states of the federation. Using as a metric, the volume of patents and public policies developed in the states. Being a reference for a practical and effective scenario, of solutions for a regional socio-economic development, with less discrepancies and a higher degree of solution. Having its base based on the innovation pillar of the competitiveness ranking among the states. Methodology: The study was conducted on a base of scientific journals and statistical patent reports via the National Institute of Industrial Property and the Orbit system, in addition to the technology transfer contracts registered in Brazil. Also used was the copy of the year 2021 of the competitiveness ranking among Brazilian states. Main Results: It was possible through the collected data the influence and importance measured through the innovation pillar for the competitiveness ranking among Brazilian states. The metric revealed the performance among the Brazilian federative units ranked there, identifying the possible correlation present between public policies for innovation, as well as the volume of production and patent protection. Three scales of observation were considered: 1) states in the best position in the ranking; 2) states in an intermediate position in the ranking, such as the state of Rio de Janeiro, currently seventeenth in the ranking; and 3) states in the worst positions, such as Acre and Roraima, currently twenty-sixth and seventh, respectively. Theoretical/methodological contributions: We sought to contribute with studies based on statistical analysis, as well as the collection of legislation that promotes public policies for innovation. And contributions that generate opportunities for deeper analysis to search for solutions not only parallel the concrete cases, but also to contribute to the Brazilian states, but that it is possible to gradually reduce their disparities among themselves, with regard to the search for the development of local innovation. Contributions of the association/management: It is hoped that this research will contribute to the study and exploitation of new opportunities, as well as proposals and possible solutions that can contribute to the improvement of a national innovation scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous researchers and institutions have been developing in ovo sexing technologies to improve animal welfare by identifying male embryos in an early embryonic stage and disposing of them before pain perception. This review gives a complete overview of the technological approaches reported in papers and patents by performing a thorough search using Web of Science and Patstat/Espacenet databases for papers and patents, respectively. Based on a total of 49 papers and 115 patent families reported until May 2023 worldwide, 11 technology categories were defined: 6 non-optical and 5 optical techniques. Every category was described for its characteristics while assessing its potential for application. Next, the dynamics of the publications of in ovo sexing techniques in both paper and patent fields were described through growth curves, and the interest or actual status was visualized using the number of paper citations and the actual legal status of the patents. When comparing the reported technologies in papers to those in patents, scientific gaps were observed, as some of the patented technologies were not reported in the scientific literature, e.g., ion mobility and mass spectrometry approaches. Generally, more diverse approaches in all categories were found in patents, although they do require more scientific evidence through papers or industrial adoption to prove their robustness. Moreover, although there is a recent trend for non-invasive techniques, invasive methods like analyzing DNA through PCR or hormones through immunosensing are still being reported (and might continue to be) in papers and patents. It was also observed that none of the technologies complies with all the industry requirements, although 5 companies already entered the market. On the one hand, more research and harmony between consumers, industry, and governments is necessary. On the other hand, close monitoring of the market performance of the currently available techniques will offer valuable insights into the potential and expectations of in ovo sexing techniques in the poultry industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous researchers and institutions have been developing in ovo sexing technologies to improve animal welfare by identifying male embryos in an early embryonic stage and disposing of them before pain perception. This review gives a complete overview of the technological approaches reported in papers and patents by performing a thorough search using Web of Science and Patstat/Espacenet databases for papers and patents, respectively. Based on a total of 49 papers and 115 patent families reported until May 2023 worldwide, 11 technology categories were defined: 6 non-optical and 5 optical techniques. Every category was described for its characteristics while assessing its potential for application. Next, the dynamics of the publications of in ovo sexing techniques in both paper and patent fields were described through growth curves, and the interest or actual status was visualized using the number of paper citations and the actual legal status of the patents. When comparing the reported technologies in papers to those in patents, scientific gaps were observed, as some of the patented technologies were not reported in the scientific literature, e.g., ion mobility and mass spectrometry approaches. Generally, more diverse approaches in all categories were found in patents, although they do require more scientific evidence through papers or industrial adoption to prove their robustness. Moreover, although there is a recent trend for non-invasive techniques, invasive methods like analyzing DNA through PCR or hormones through immunosensing are still being reported (and might continue to be) in papers and patents. It was also observed that none of the technologies complies with all the industry requirements, although 5 companies already entered the market. On the one hand, more research and harmony between consumers, industry, and governments is necessary. On the other hand, close monitoring of the market performance of the currently available techniques will offer valuable insights into the potential and expectations of in ovo sexing techniques in the poultry industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental deterioration is a substantial hazard to sustainable development. To add new dimensions to the discussion. This study aims to consider the impact of patents on environmental technology and environmental degradation in Iceland, along with other indicators, such as economic growth, primary energy consumption (PEC) and trade openness. This effect has not been comprehensively examined in the case of Iceland's economy. To this end, the study adopted novel econometric Fourier‐based estimators. The Fourier‐augmented Dickey–Fuller (F‐ADF) unit root tests, Fourier‐autoregressive distributive lag (F‐ARDL) cointegration test, F‐ARDL for long run estimation, and the Fourier‐Toda and Yamamoto (Fourier TY) causality test to determine the impact of explanatory and control indicators on production‐based CO2 emissions for the period 1995Q1 to 2019Q4. The findings revealed the impact of environmental technology and trade openness is negative and mitigates production‐based CO2 emissions and increases environmental sustainability in Iceland. In contrast, economic growth and PEC were found to have harmful and positive influences on production‐based CO2 emissions and increases environmental deterioration in the region. In addition, the Fourier TY causality test suggests unidirectional causality between these indicators in Iceland and the outcome further confirms that environmental technology and trade openness are vital for decreasing production‐based CO2 emissions in Iceland. Thus, the study findings benefit policymakers in adopting green innovation activities that increase sustainable energy resources and minimize the detrimental effects of a boost in economic activities in Iceland for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographical distance constitutes friction in searching for research collaborators. Taking advantage of a quasinatural experiment featured by High‐Speed Railway (HSR) lines in China, this paper employs the difference‐in‐differences model to identify the causal impact of a substantial improvement in the intercity transportation infrastructure on collaborative innovation across cities. The data pertain to a universe of patent applications filed by Chinese universities and their citations. We find that HSR contributes to a substantial increase in the innovation quantity and quality of collaborative patenting innovation between universities and corporates. It contributes to industry collaboration by utilizing university academic disciplines in the related technology fields. Lastly, HSR facilitates universities to search for new research partners with better quality beyond the geographical boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting growth in patent activity was an important stated goal of China's Medium- and Long-Term Plan for Science and Technology Development (2006–20) , and it was a successful one. By the end of this ambitious blueprint, China had witnessed enormous growth in the number of granted patents, especially those granted to public universities. This vital role played by universities in technology innovation justifies further research on the role of academia with respect to the development of technology. However, most studies on patenting by Chinese universities are limited in terms of research scale and context, and patent performance is seldom investigated in great detail. This study first presents an overall analysis of the utility patents granted to Chinese public universities (not utility model patents). Then, we compare the patent performance of two elite university groups: Project 985 universities in China and member institutions of the Association of American Universities (AAU) in the USA. Our results show that Chinese universities account for a high proportion of the total patents granted in China, and the number of patents granted to universities has grown rapidly in recent decades, making them a very substantial contributor to China's innovation system. However, the value of patents did not improve as their counts surged. Compared to AAU universities, the technological and economic value of patents held by Project 985 universities is considerably lower, even for the top-patenting universities in China. These findings extend our understanding of technological innovation activity in China's academic landscape and might inspire future policies toward patent quality and impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regarding the unbalanced development of China's provincial technology markets, using the contract value of the technology markets from 2006 to 2018 as the research data, the spatial scale structure changes, development trends and influencing factors of China's technology transfer sources and sinks are analyzed. The results show that the spatial scale and structure changes of China's technology transfer sources and sinks are in conformity with the monofractal Zipf distribution, and the distribution of technology transfer sources is relatively concentrated. The development trend of technology output and inflow in most provinces is different, and the changes in the sequence of the technology sinks are more volatile than the changes in the sources. Patents, R&D investment and R&D personnel will have a positive effect on regional technology output, and the improvement of regional economic development level, industrial structure, and fixed asset investment will attract more technology inflow [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology is considered an effective way to reduce greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), which is significant for achieving carbon neutrality. Based on Derwent patent data, this paper explored the technology topics in CCUS patents by using the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic model to analyze technology's hot topics and content evolution. Furthermore, the logistic model was used to fit the patent volume of the key CCUS technologies and predict the maturity and development trends of the key CCUS technologies to provide a reference for the future development of CCUS technology. We found that CCUS technology patents are gradually transforming to the application level, with increases in emerging fields, such as computer science. The main R&D institutes in the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea, and other countries are enterprises, while in China they are universities and research institutes. Hydride production, biological carbon sequestration, dynamic monitoring, geological utilization, geological storage, and CO2 mineralization are the six key technologies of CCUS. In addition, technologies such as hydride production, biological carbon sequestration, and dynamic monitoring have good development prospects, such as CCUS being coupled with hydrogen production to regenerate synthetic methane and CCUS being coupled with biomass to build a dynamic monitoring and safety system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to analyse how human resources for Industry-University collaboration achieves technology transfer and start-up development through three collaboration outputs (funding from Industry, research paper publication, patent applications, and registrations). The results of this empirical study showed that human resources for Industry-University linkage had a significant positive effect on funding from Industry, research paper publication, patent development, technology transfer and start-up development. Furthermore, funding from industry had a positive effect on research paper and patent applications and registrations. Additionally, patents had a positive effect on technology transfer and start-up creation development, while research paper development had a positive effect on technology transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the end of combustion engine vehicles seems inevitable under a new climate target for 2030, a complete ban on the combustion engine would be counterproductive. E-fuels, which are produced using renewable electricity from hydrogen and carbon dioxide, could act as a possible large-scale solution for achieving climate-neutral mobility, as they allow us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while leveraging the existing energy infrastructure. Against such a background, it is critical to examine how the related technological landscape is constructed and might affect the subsequent knowledge generation. By adopting a social-network perspective, the aim of this study is to investigate the degree of technological knowledge relatedness of e-fuel technology using patent data. This is accomplished by analyzing the influence of individual knowledge areas and categorizing them into a matrix model, with each quadrant playing a unique role. The main findings show that the patent landscape is dominated by applications from the private sector, and the main knowledge base is centered around chemical engineering and production techniques for liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Furthermore, the analyzed knowledge flows are dominated by intra-technology knowledge flows, thereby being less prone to convergent technology evolution. In particular, the knowledge areas C10L 01 and C10J 03 demonstrated a high influencer role. The findings can also support R&D advisors and decision makers in policy development in reducing their efforts required for conducting technical intelligence activities and determining adequate policies for R&D portfolio management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patents are a valuable outcome of research activities in universities as a foundation for commercialization. The idea of transforming research work into products or services that are beneficial to the public has become the priority for almost all universities in the world. This paper focuses on the profile of patents produced by Malaysian Research Universities (MRU). The profiling considers the number of patents, stages of patents, collaboration effort for the patents, citation of the patents, and jurisdiction of the patents within 10 years from 2010 to 2020. The finding indicates that there is an association between patenting activities with the initiative by the government and the university ranking systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spanish scientific production and technology transfer that it entails are constantly growing, and consequently that of the Autonomous Communities as well. However, this does not mean that all the Autonomous Communities evolve in the same way, nor that they all implement the same policies. In this paper we present a comparison of investment in R&D&i, scientific production, and its transfer to the productive fabric of the seventeen Spanish Autonomous Communities in the period 2003-2020. The data used to carry out this work has been extracted from three of the platforms created by the SCImago group: SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJ&CR), SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) and SCImago Patents Rank (SPR) (under development) based on information included in Elsevier's Scopus database and PATSTAT. In total, 1,276,914 primary documents published in the 2003-2020 period have been recovered, signed by authors affiliated to Spanish institutions that have been disaggregated at the level of Autonomous Communities. With them, a battery of indicators of scientific production (12), its technological impact (5) and technology transfer (5) has been generated, in addition to its variation rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 40 years have passed since the enactment of the Patent and Trademark Amendment (Bayh-Dole) Act, which authorized institutions to patent inventions arising from federally funded research. Although some experts have heralded the Bayh-Dole Act as ushering in a new era of technological advances, others have been less sanguine about its impact. In recent years, the high price of prescription drugs and the patenting of COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines developed with substantial federal government support have rekindled the debate over whether companies should receive more restricted rights to products originating with government funding. This article traces the history leading to the enactment of the Bayh-Dole Act and critically assesses its strengths and weaknesses as well as unresolved questions concerning its scope. Based on this analysis, the authors propose reforms to better align the Bayh-Dole Act with public values and health outcomes, including clarifying government use rights, making it easier to invoke march-in rights for failure to meet health and safety needs, increasing transparency in how patents are licensed, and testing different approaches to foster the development and application of inventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon Fen (SF) is a cluster of high-tech firms located around the University of Cambridge (UoC) in the UK. This article, for the first time, investigates the technological bonds between SF firms and UoC based on patent analysis covering the period of 1999–2021. We provide a short history of SF, highlighting its early formation and growth, and the role of spin-off firms on its evolution. We employ joint patents generated by UoC and various business sectors of SF to calculate the values of technological collaboration strength (TCS). It is found that the majority of joint patents (61%) are generated by the Pharma/Biotech sector of SF with the highest value of TCS (16.45 × 10−3). Moreover, the patent's economic values across various business disciplines in SF are calculated based on the total counts of citations. Our observations suggest that senior university academics making spin-off firms in a business cluster around their university can effectively facilitate university–firm technological collaboration. Furthermore, the relatively strong technological bond between UoC and the Pharma/Biotech sector of SF is confirmed to be influenced by the collaboration of the university with its own spin-off firms rather than large independent firms in SF. The outcomes of this research contribute to the knowledge of the collaboration between a main research university and a cluster of firms located in its geographical proximity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological competition between firms has changed from ordinary to generic technology (hereinafter, GT) innovation with the increasing complementarity and shareability of technology in the field of emerging technologies. While facing the R&D dilemmas and market failure of GT and its R&D process, here comes the question: who are contributing to the GT R&D in the process of building emerging technology knowledge systems? Using social network analysis and a patent panel dataset of 380 strategic emerging firms, our study empirically examines how patent cooperation networks influence the R&D performance of GT, and the moderating effect of alliance heterogeneity. We found that: (1) The network scale and network centrality of patent cooperation networks have a positive and significant impact on the R&D performance of GT, and the latter one shows a greater impact, while the network density of patent cooperation networks shows a negative and significant impact on the R&D performance of GT. (2) Alliance heterogeneity plays a positive moderating role between the network scale and R&D performance of GT, while the moderating effect turns to be negative between the network density/network centrality of patent cooperation networks and R&D performance of GT. Our study contributes lay a foundation for strategic decision-making and government promotion of GT R&D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The patent transfer provides an important indication of technology flows and knowledge diffusion across space. Drawing on patent transfer data, we modeled intercity technology transfer networks in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area, a city region special for its "one country, two systems" structure, in the periods 2007–2011 and 2012–2016. We then explored the evolutionary characteristics of the networks and further examined the impact of, and interaction between, different forms of proximities in relation to technology transfer over time. Our results show that some kinds of proximities (institutional, cognitive, and social) are able to promote technology transfers, while others (geographical and cultural) do not exert significant impacts. Of the latter category, geographical proximity can, however, indirectly affect technology transfer by acting on the proximity of other dimensions (institutional, cognitive, and social). For instance, cognitive proximity can compensate for the lack of geographical proximity and social proximity frequently accompanies geographical proximity—and both relationships are reinforced over time. In contrast, the interrelatedness of geographical and institutional proximities have transformed from a relation of substitution to complementarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The aim of the paper is to present the development of patent citation analyses and to present the possibilities of their application in the evaluation of universities together with bibliometric analyses. Approach/methodology/design. The historical development and application of patent citation analysis are presented. In the second part of the paper, a comparison is made between Croatian, regional and leading EU universities in terms of average patent citations per 1000 scientific papers and the average citations per paper. The Scopus bibliometric tool SciVal was used for the analysis. Findings. The paper provides examples of citation analyses comparing patent citations of Croatian universities with those of the region and the leading universities of the European Union. The patent citations of the largest Croatian universities: the University of Zagreb, the University of Split, the University of Rijeka and the University of Osijek are examined, as well as the patent citations of the mentioned universities by different scientific fields. The citation rate of the papers cited in patents of individual Croatian universities was examined, as well as the ratio of international collaborations to the average papers of these universities. Research limitations/implications. Lack of research on patent indicators in Croatia and in literature. Although patent citations indicate the connection between universities and the industrial sector, for more exact analysis of knowledge and technology transfer, it is necessary to use additional indicators such as the number of contracts between universities and industries, the number of conferences organized in cooperation with industry, the number of licenses, spin-off companies of universities, etc. Originality/value. Precisely because of the lack of relevant recent literature, as well as primarily Croatian papers on this topic, we believe it is important to raise awareness of the role of both citation analysis and patents, as well as patentometrics in the evaluation of universities and their further development, as well as the promotion of university personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The connection between biomedical science and space technology has historically been very strong and often led to significant scientific/technological evolutions. The ISS has been for years the perfect environment to study and test many biomedical applications. Long duration space travels need further development of reliable, portable and miniaturised medical support systems. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of space start-ups/spin-offs specifically dedicated to health, with the aim of commercialising the results of research. For example, the use of Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) to treat brain tumours, fibre optic probes to detect cataracts, or the development of wearable devices for clinical and leisure use. We review the devices for cardiovascular control and how space scientific and technological experiments contributed to the evolution of terrestrial applications and vice-versa. For a systematic approach, we combined the standardised taxonomy of ESA Technology Tree, which provides a classification of all technological expertise available for space activities, with the Italian National Classification of Medical Devices (the CND). In particular, we focused on technologies related to Life & Physical Science, Environmental Control Life Support (ECLS) and In-Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU). The CND taxonomy is also aligned with the existing relevant classifications at the International level, such as the Global Medical Device Nomenclature (GMDN). By using specific keywords, our review considers both patent and scientific literature data (2010–2020) on cardiovascular control devices for space applications as well as space developments that may have contributed to the improvement of terrestrial activities. We analysed global trends, International Patent Classifications (IPC), country distributions, top assignees and funding sponsors. As a result, we identified that both scientific literature and patents have witnessed a general increase for the period under examination. China and the United States maintain the leading positions in both scientific literature and patenting publications. Similarly, European community member States (particularly Germany, Italy, Spain and France) and United Kingdom are very active. The most recurring technological protected domains include diagnosis, surgery, measurement and pharmaceuticals technologies. Therefore, patent and literature indicators, integrated with market information, provide a clear assessment of the related technology trends and readiness levels. • Connection between biomedical and space research has historically been strong. • Combination of ESA Technology Tree with the Classification of Medical Devices. • Cardiac functions monitoring is fundamental for astronauts and on Earth. • Literature review of devices developed for space and used on earth or viceversa. • Patent analysis of biomedical/cardiocirculatory devices for space applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algal biorefinery is rising as a prominent solution to economically fulfill the escalating global requirement for nutrition, feed, fuel, and medicines. In recent years, scientific productiveness associated with microalgae-based studies has elaborated in multiplied aspects, while translation to the commercial level continues to be missing. The present microalgal biorefinery has a challenge in long-term viability due to escalated market price of algal-mediated biofuels and bioproducts. Advancements are required in a few aspects like improvement in algae processing, energy investment, and cost analysis of microalgae biorefinery. Therefore, it is essential to recognize the modern work by understanding the knowledge gaps and hotspots driving business scale up. The microalgae biorefinery integrated with energy-based products, bioactive and green compounds, focusing on a circular bioeconomy, is urgently needed. A detailed investigation of techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) is important to increase the market value of algal products. This review discusses the valorization of algal biomass for the value-added application that holds a sustainable approach and cost-competitive algal biorefinery. The current industries, policies, technology transfer trends, challenges, and future economic outlook are discussed. This study is an overview through scientometric investigation attempt to describe the research development contributing to this rising field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3-D printing is an additive manufacturing process, which enables products to be custom designed. Obtaining the evolution trend and identifying the potential R&D hotspots of 3-D printing technology are important strategic issues for both nations and enterprises. In this article, a combination method is proposed using the Viterbi algorithm to identify technological terms in patents, using the latent Dirichlet allocation model to capture potential technological topics in patents, and using the hidden Markov model to analyze the distribution and evolution pattern of the technological topics. Based on the results, technological topics and future R&D hotspots in 3-D printing are identified. Among the technological topics, extrusion devices and laser powder molding are gradually losing R&D; model acquisition, extrusion devices, rotary printing, and denture are the key topics of technological evolution that are difficult to overcome; laser focusing, print head, color printing, recyclable, feeding, control panel, and denture will become the focus of R&D in the near future. Finally, a comparison and experiments are given to demonstrate the plausibility of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the rapidly changing technological environments, a significant effort has been undertaken to investigate promising technologies for the future and, accordingly, numerous studies have been conducted to develop an approach for identifying such technologies. One of the most frequently adopted approaches is patent analysis given that patent data are regarded as one of the most valuable and widely accepted sources to understand innovation activities. The term promising technology has been used in various contexts, but little effort has been made to provide a clear definition of it. As different perspectives may lead to different results, defining this concept is essential to obtain the best possible results. Thus, this study aims to develop a taxonomy of the promising technologies, and the following six perspectives along with their relevant patent analysis approaches are examined: key, outlier, vacant, emerging, new, and converging technologies. The research findings indicate that the concept of promising technology can be defined differently from diverse viewpoints, and this can be a basis for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fertiliser has been a vital part of agriculture due to it boosting crop productivity and preventing starvation throughout the world. Despite this huge contribution, the application of nitrogen (N) fertilisers results in N leaching and the formation of greenhouse gases, which threaten the environment and human health. To minimise the impacts, slow/controlled release fertilisers (S/CRFs) have been being developed since the beginning of the 20th century. Despite the efforts made over a century, the basic terminological and classification information of these fertilisers remains vague. The scientific knowledge published in S/CRF patents has also been overlooked since the beginning. This review focused on the information gaps, clarified the definitions, differentiation and classification methods that have been randomly used in previous literature. The objectives, formulations and technologies of 109 controlled release urea patents involving sulphur coated urea, polymer coated urea and urea matrix fertilisers published in the years since these products emerged were also reviewed to 1) highlight the overlooked scientific knowledge in the patents; 2) understand the evolutionary processes and current research states of the products; 3) clarify research preferences and challenges to date; 4) identify remaining gaps for the future direction. It is expected that the organised basic information and the patent knowledge highlighted in this paper can be new resources and foster the development of S/CRFs in the future. [Display omitted] • There has not been a definition of and differentiation between slow release fertilisers and controlled release fertilisers. • Most literature classifies the fertilisers according to synthetic methods or material types used in manufacturing. • This review highlights scientific information published in patents. • Currently research is emerging for urea matrix, developing for polymer coated urea, and established for sulphur coated urea. • This review identifies the research preferences and challenges to date, and future research gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Latin American universities have innovated their patents and services and generated easy-to-market developments to produce revenue. However, the lack of an adequate system to effectively transfer technology and of a frame of reference that allows universities to propose a suitable sale value for their innovations and patents, prevents them from obtaining economic benefits by distributing their products and services to public and private companies. In this study, a technical method is proposed--in addition to an effective technology transfer system--to quantify the potential that universities have and guarantee that the innovations, services and developments produced by them are marketed effectively. To do this, the potential that the university possesses is quantified and the contributions from the personnel, the research groups, the laboratories, etc. are assessed in order to then weigh the best references and define which ones have the greatest potential to be marketed. Since the objective of public universities is to generate the greatest benefit to society through non-profit products and services, measuring the true impact of these benefits through indices that quantify the social mass they impact is proposed. For this research, the invention patent developed by Escuela Politécnica Nacional del Ecuador was analyzed and the sale value and the projection of revenues that the university received were calculated. This case serves as an example for other Latin American universities [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the patenting activities of university science and engineering professors in Canada between 1920 and 1975. Unlike most studies on commercial activities in academia, which typically focus on the post-1980 period and on university practices, we focus on the pre-1980 period and on the individual decisions of professors to patent their inventions. Based on quantitative patent data, we show that patenting, and thus professors' interest in the possible commercial value of their scientific discoveries made in university laboratories, was relatively common on an individual and informal basis well before the 1980s and the advent of what is now called "academic capitalism". This contradicts the belief that before that period, universities were a kind of ivory towers in which professors isolated themselves from external influences and engaged only in pure and disinterested research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities' decisions during technology transfer may affect affordability, accessibility, and availability of COVID-19 health technologies downstream. We investigated measures taken by the top 35 publicly funded UK universities to ensure global equitable access to COVID-19 health technologies between January and end of October 2020. We sent Freedom Of Information (FOI) requests and analysed universities' websites, to (i) assess institutional strategies on the patenting and licensing of COVID-19-related health technologies, (ii) identify all COVID-19-related health technologies licensed or patented and (iii) record whether universities engaged with the Open COVID pledge, COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), or Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) COVID-19 licensing guidelines during the time period assessed. Except for the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, UK universities did not update their institutional strategies during the first year of the pandemic. Nine universities licensed 22 COVID-19 health technologies. Imperial College London disclosed ten patents relevant to COVID-19. No UK universities participated in the Open COVID Pledge or C-TAP, but discussions were ongoing in autumn 2020. The University of Bristol endorsed the AUTM guidelines. Despite important COVID-19 health technologies being developed by UK universities, our findings suggest minimal engagement with measures that may promote equitable access downstream. We suggest universities review their technology transfer policies and implement global equitable access strategies for COVID-19 health technologies. We furthermore propose that public and charitable funders can play a larger role in encouraging universities to adopt such practices by making access and transparency clauses a mandatory condition for receiving public funds for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orodispersible films (ODFs)are ultra-thin, stamp-sized, rapidly disintegrating, and attractive oral drug delivery dosage forms best suited for the pediatric and geriatric patient populations. They can be fabricated by different techniques, but the most popular, simple, and industrially applicable technique is the solvent casting method (SCM). In addition, they can also be fabricated by extrusion, printing, electrospinning, and by a combination of these technologies (e.g., SCM + printing). The present review is aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of patented technologies of the last two decades to fabricate ODFs. Through this review, we present evidence to adamantly confirm that SCM is the most popular method while electrospinning is the most recent and upcoming method to fabricate ODFs. We also speculate around the more patent-protected technologies especially in the domain of printing (two or three-dimensional), extrusion (ram or hot-melt extrusion), and electrospinning, or a combination of the methods thereof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Objective: This study examines the extent of scientific publications and patents in pathology and forensic medicine globally and the citation relationship between them from 2011 to 2020, indexed in the Scopus database. Methods: In this scientometric study, data were extracted from the SciVal citation database. Search feature and library study method and annual growth rate, relative growth rate, and linear model were used to retrieve and analyze the data. The scientometric indicators included the number of publications and patents of the university in collaboration with industry, the number of articles cited by patents, the number of patents cited by articles, the average number of patents cited by articles, and the number of articles cited. Results: The results showed a poor collaboration between academia and industry in pathology and forensic Medicine, and North America is the busiest region in this field. The average growth of patents based on articles, the number of articles mentioned in patents, citations to patents, and the average number of patents of an institute in the articles of that institute have a positive exponential relationship. Based on the linear model, the relationship between articles and citations equals R2 = 0.982, which is inverse and negative. The data set of articles and citations was suitable for polynomial (R² = .994), linear (R²= .982) and exponential (R² = .887) models. Conclusion: The research process of pathology and forensic medicine is inappropriate, and the citation relationships between articles and patents in this field are weak. Strengthening the link between academia and industry in pathology and forensic medicine can strengthen research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The valuation of a technology or invention patent is an exercise of good sense based on referents of competitive intelligence and experts. The purpose of this article is to establish the monetary value of the invention patent according to the technology situation and under possible commercialization scenarios. First, the conditions and potential of the patent are evaluated through expert analysis, the expectations of the owners of the invention patent and of potential clients or allies. Second, the patent is valued by discounted free cash flow (FCLD) and according to possible commercialization alternatives. The results show that there is an increase in the added value of 2.7 times for the company, in the alternative corresponding to the licensing of energy distributors in the national territory, compared to the alternative of only producing internally and making its own distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the explosive development of decentralized finance, we witness a phenomenal growth in tokenization of all kinds of assets, including equity, funds, debt, and real estate. By taking advantage of blockchain technology, digital assets are broadly grouped into fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFT). Here non-fungible tokens refer to those with unique and non-substitutable properties. NFT has widely attracted attention, and its protocols, standards, and applications are developing exponentially. It has been successfully applied to digital fantasy artwork, games, collectibles, etc. However, there is a lack of research in utilizing NFT in issues such as Intellectual Property. Applying for a patent and trademark is not only a time-consuming and lengthy process but also costly. NFT has considerable potential in the intellectual property domain. It can promote transparency and liquidity and open the market to innovators who aim to commercialize their inventions efficiently. The main objective of this paper is to examine the requirements of presenting intellectual property assets, specifically patents, as NFTs. Hence, we offer a layered conceptual NFT-based patent framework. Furthermore, a series of open challenges about NFT-based patents and the possible future directions are highlighted. The proposed framework provides fundamental elements and guidance for businesses in taking advantage of NFTs in real-world problems such as grant patents, funding, biotechnology, and so forth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the underlying research topics regarding CRISPR based on the LDA model and figures out trends in knowledge transfer from science to technology in this area over the latest 10 years. We collected publications on CRISPR between 2011 and 2020 from the Web of Science, and traced all the patents citing them from lens.org. 15,904 articles and 18,985 patents in total are downloaded and analyzed. The LDA model was applied to identify underlying research topics in related research. In addition, some indicators were introduced to measure the knowledge transfer from research topics of scientific publications to IPC-4 classes of patents. The emerging research topics on CRISPR were identified and their evolution over time displayed. Furthermore, a big picture of knowledge transition from research topics to technological classes of patents was presented. We found that for all topics on CRISPR, the average first transition year, the ratio of articles cited by patents, the NPR transition rate are respectively 1.08, 15.57%, and 1.19, extremely shorter and more intensive than those of general fields. Moreover, the transition patterns are different among research topics. Our research is limited to publications retrieved from the Web of Science and their citing patents indexed in lens.org. A limitation inherent with LDA analysis is in the manual interpretation and labeling of "topics". Our study provides good references for policy-makers on allocating scientific resources and regulating financial budgets to face challenges related to the transformative technology of CRISPR. The LDA model here is applied to topic identification in the area of transformative researches for the first time, as exemplified on CRISPR. Additionally, the dataset of all citing patents in this area helps to provide a full picture to detect the knowledge transition between S&T. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The innovative application of nanotechnology to improve the physicochemical properties of polyphenols in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, food and cosmetic industries has increased steadily over the last two decades. This proliferation of novel research output and the commercialization of polyphenol nano-formulations has however raised concerns about whether the current state of the regulations governing these products is sufficient. The use of nanotechnology to prepare state-of-the-art polyphenol nano-formulations was investigated along with their available commercialized forms. Special focus was placed on the types of polyphenols used, the industries in which applications were found, along with the geographical distribution of both patents and commercialized products. The paper also highlights the medical claims of the patented technologies and evaluates current challenges involving their entry into the market. A large number of nano-polyphenols are being patented and commercialized. A total of 97 nano-polyphenol patents published over the last three years (2019–2021) were found. Approximately 90% of these have potential application in the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical industries. While the medical claims of the patented technologies involving nano-polyphenols are quite diverse, there is no indication that these claims are guided by clinical research. This underscores the significance of firm policies in regulating these products especially given the rate at which they are entering the market. The role nano-polyphenols play in imparting health effects should be supported by sound scientific and clinical data so their safety and efficacy can be validated. This review can impact current regulations and future research. • Inventions or filed patent applications of polyphenol nano-formulations have increased steadily over the last two decades. • Analysis of patented and commercialized nano-polyphenols reveals that most are intended for the nutraceutical industry. • Medical claims of nano-polyphenol patents are vast however there is no evidence that they are guided by clinical research. • Propagation of nano-polyphenol patents and commercial products warrants firm policies to regulate their safety and efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many firms increasingly collaborate with universities to create innovation through the commercialization of scientific knowledge. However, a variety of mismatches between a firm's interests and the value delivered by university partners (e.g., common knowledge base, strategic goals, agreements on intellectual property management, etc.) can cause rough interactions and relationships. Therefore, managers demand an effective practice to support the management of university-industry collaborations (UICs). This article builds on the previous work on a matching quality assessment model by extending its applicability to propose an analytical framework for developing a strategic roadmap to guide relationship development toward effective UIC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International technology transfer is a determinant of a country's national revenue and economic growth. Technology exported through international technology transfer can be the factor that gives a country a competitive edge. Therefore, investigation of international technology transfer has become essential. With the role of universities in innovation changing, academic patents have increased significantly over the past 10 years. Thus, this study used academic patents involved in international technology transfer as a basis for analysis and attempted to identify technological hotspots through a technological structure network analysis. The results indicated that key technologies in academic patent–based international technology transfer networks were mainly concentrated on measurement, nanotechnology, medical technology, biotechnology, and electric digital data processing. An academic patent technological hotspot network model was established to serve as a reference for academic technology transfers as well as for governments in their promotion of emerging technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experts have difficulty assessing the economic value of university-originated technologies due to the high level of uncertainty associated with the commercialization of early stage and basic technologies. This article proposes a random forest approach to the valuation of university-originated technologies that integrates monetary value and patent value models for technology valuation. First, a technological characteristics-value matrix was constructed after defining a total of 23 indicators from the U.S. Patent and Trademark and Scopus databases and extracting the value of university-originated technologies from technology transaction databases. Second, a random forest model, an ensemble machine learning model based on a multitude of decision trees, was employed to assess the economic value of university-originated technologies. Finally, the performance of our approach was assessed using quantitative metrics. A case study of the technologies registered in the Office of Technology Licensing of Stanford University confirms, with statistically significant outcomes, that our method is valuable as a complementary tool for the valuation of university-originated technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to provide a new framework for analyzing the path of technology diffusion in the innovation network at the regional level and industrial level respectively, which is conducive to the integration of innovation resources, the coordinated development of innovative subjects, and the improvement of innovation abilities. Based on the Z-Park patent cooperation data, we establish Inter-Enterprise Technology Transfer Network model and apply the concept of Pivotability to describe the key links of technology diffusion and quantify the importance of innovative partnerships. By measuring the topologically structural characteristics in the levels of branch park and the technosphere, this paper demonstrates how technology spreads and promotes overall innovation activities within the innovation network. The results indicate that: (1) Patent cooperation network of the Z-Park displays heterogeneity and the connections between the innovative subjects distribute extremely uneven. (2) Haidian park owns the highest pivotability in the IETTN model, yet the related inter-enterprise patent cooperation is mainly concentrated in its internal, failing to facilitate the technology diffusion across multiple branch parks. (3) Such fields as "electronics and information" and "advanced manufacturing" are prominent in the cross-technosphere cooperation, while fields such as "new energy" and "environmental protection technology" can better promote industrial integration. Only the part of the joint patent application is taken into account while establishing the patent cooperation network. The other factors that influence the mechanism of technology diffusion in the innovation network need to be further studied, such as financial capital, market competition, and personnel mobility, etc. The findings of this paper will provide useful information and suggestions for the administration and policy-making of high-tech parks. The value of this paper is to build a bridge between the massive amount of patent data and the nature of technology diffusion, and to develop a set of tools to analyze the nonlinear relations between innovative subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On March 10, 2021, our journal partnered with the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law and Policy to host a symposium addressing the role and impact of U.S. innovation policy on access to medicine. Our 2021 Symposium Issue--Loturne 11, Issue 1--captures that event. The following article represents the second of four panels. This panel asked, "Should the U.S. government actively assert its own patents?" The panel was moderated by Christopher Morten, Deputy Director of NYU Law's Technology Law & Policy Clinic. The panelists included Barry Datlof, Chief of Business Development and Commercialization in the Office of Medical Technology Transfer at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, Professor Amy Kapczynski of Yale Law School, Donna Meuth, Associate General Counsel and Lead Attorney of the U.S. Intellectual Property Department of Eisai, and Zain Rizvi, a policy researcher at Public Citizen who focuses on pharmaceutical innovation and access to medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When considering a joint venture or merger, it is essential for firms to explore innovators with complementary technology to compensate for any internal limitations in R&D resources. In this article, we provide a framework for exploring the technology complementarity between enterprises in a quantitative manner based on text-mining patent data. A hierarchical latent Dirichlet allocation topic model identifies the technology topics hidden in patent documents along with the hierarchical structure of those topics. The technology complementarity between broad classes of technology and their subclassifications across enterprises is then measured with an improved formulation. An empirical study on three-dimensional printing illustrates the validity, reliability, and practicality of this method and the measurement formula used, endorsed by technical experts. This method can be used to identify R&D opportunities, to find appropriate acquisition targets and potential collaborators, and to support managerial decision-making with quantified information on technology complementarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses text mining techniques to determine the time lag of knowledge transfer between research activity and technology development in bioremediation, complementing these with advanced visualization techniques in order to extract patterns that could be of interest for decision making in this field. The emergence patterns in this field have been identified and a method based on subject-action-object (SAO) semantic structure is proposed for characterizing such patterns, using 2-word tuples. Our results show that technology developments in heavy metal bioremediation swiftly follow scientific advances, as opposed to developments in bioremediation of organic chemical components. The science mapping reveals three distinct areas: 1) heavy metal remediation and phytoremediation; 2) aerobic and anaerobic remediation of chemical elements; and 3) bioremediation techniques for treating specific contamination sources such as oil. The emergence analysis points at activities involving energy recovery by bioremediation, and shows an increasing amount of technologies involving specific strains of microorganisms, which could gain significant traction in this field in an estimated time horizon of ten years. Our SAO approach, tested on the data sample corresponding to these strains, proves to be useful for characterizing the emerging technologies when applied to instrumental concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms engaged in university–industry collaboration (UIC) desire to advance knowledge and new technologies with their academic partners, however the performance of knowledge creation and transfer is greatly affected by complementarity and compatibility between the firm and academic institute. In practice, many firms assess the appropriateness of academic partners using a broad range of criteria, with high subjectivity. This paper therefore seeks to address this challenge by introducing a systematic approach to help firms determine the appropriateness of academic partners, represented as “matching quality” in this paper. Three facets of matching quality are examined: complementarity of research ability, compatibility in business mindset, and compatibility in relationships. This paper proposes a framework and model for assessing matching quality, along with a case study to demonstrate how the proposed model works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 20 years, university–industry–government collaborative innovation has received extensive attention in theory and practice. However, the question of how to integrate and understand collaborative innovation from a theoretical perspective has not been thoroughly studied. This study designed a regional collaborative innovation evaluation model based on the triple helix theory. The invention patent data of 31 provincial regions in China for the last 5 years are used to investigate the regional differences and dynamic evolution of the collaborative innovation and the interaction and coupling relationship between intraregional and interregional industries, universities, and governments empirically. This study found that the number of invention patents in China has rapidly grown yearly, indicating that industries are the most important source of invention patents. The difference in the regional distribution of China's collaborative innovation output is remarkable, showing a pattern of "strong east and weak west" in the total volume and "south fast north slow" in the growth rate. The bilateral synergistic effect of industry–university relations is strong considering two‐dimensional cooperation, and the relationship is close. Collaborative innovation is dominated by intraregional cooperation, whereas interregional cooperation shows a growing trend. The tripartite relationship between university, industry, and government shows a loose trend. Certain provinces with weak regional innovation capabilities, such as Gansu, Hainan, Xinjiang, and Qinghai, have a relatively close cooperation level, which is in the stage of government‐led innovation and development. However, Guangdong, Chongqing, Anhui, Jiangsu, and other provinces with outstanding regional innovation capability do not have close cooperation between universities, industries, and governments, which are in the stage of innovation and development led by industries. This paper discusses the policy implications for different regions based on the research conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable economic growth and identifying factors affecting it are among the important issues which have always received attention from researchers of different countries. Accordingly, one of the factors affecting economic growth, which has received attention from researchers in the developed countries over recent years, is the issue of environmental technologies that enter the economic cycle of other countries after being patented through technology transfer. The current research investigated the role of the environment-related patents and the effects of the patented technological innovations compatible with climate change mitigation on the economic growth and development in the Middle East countries within a specific time period. The required data were gathered from the valid global databases, including Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and World Bank and have been analyzed using multi-linear regression methods and econometric models with Eviews 10 software. The obtained results with 95% confidence level show that the environmental patents (β = 0.02) and environment management (β = 0.04) and technologies related to the climate change mitigation (β = 0.02) have a significant positive impact on the sustainable economic development and growth rate in the studied countries. Such a study helps innovators and policymakers in policy decisions related to sustainable development programs from the perspective of environmentally friendly technologies by demonstrating the role of patents in three important environmental areas, namely environmental management, water-related adaptation and climate change mitigation, as one of the factors influencing sustainable economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subcontractors depend heavily on their prime contractor and thus find it very risky to enter a new business on their own. This study proposes a framework for these subcontractors to develop blue ocean technologies related to their prime contractor. First, the primary technologies predicted to be promising are extracted from the business reports of the prime contractor. Sub-technologies are then selected through a patent-based search using keywords and International Patent Classification codes of the primary technologies. From them, blue ocean technologies are proposed by optimizing the weighted mean of the min-max normalized market value, degree of competition in the technology market, and subcontractors' potential technological capabilities for each sub-technology. This study shows that subcontractors can enhance their technology competitiveness by finding a low-risk blue ocean technology. Our empirical research on the subcontractors of a semiconductor firm identified technological patent fields for them to pursue. From our framework, subcontractors can identify blue ocean technologies by considering their prime contractor's future industrial areas and technologies of interest as well as their own technological capabilities. Furthermore, the prime contractors can gain the synergy effect of technology expansion through cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the demand for safety and convenience in traveling, self-driving technology has developed very fast in the past decades. In this paper, a novel technology forecasting model is developed. The topic-based text mining and expert judgment approaches are combined to forecast the technology trends efficiently and accurately. To improve the reliability of the results, multidimensional information including scientific papers, patents, and industry data is considered. Then, the model is utilized to forecast the development trends of self-driving technology in China. Data ranging from 2002 to 2019 are adopted with proper data cleaning. Topic clustering for papers and patents is performed, and the hierarchical structures are constructed. On this basis, the results of technology's evolution based on papers and patents are compared and the development trends are obtained. With these results, it is speculated that technology on "Decision" will be the next hotspot in patents. The research results of this paper will provide reference and guidance for Chinese enterprises and government in decision-making on self-driving technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]