An Assessment of Technological Innovation Capabilities of Carbon Capture and Storage Technology Based on Patent Analysis: A Comparative Study between China and the United States

Assessing the Green R&D Investment and Patent Generation in Pakistan towards CO2 Emissions Reduction with a Novel Decomposition Framework

Energy plays an imperative role in global economies, such that products and services are generally dependent on energy use. This study leads to the application of environmental policies under green research and development (R&D) investment in Pakistan. Existing research has tried to analyze the effects of R&D investment associated with patent applications using the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method called PATENT. The objective of this method is to examine the variations in R&D activities motivated by the reduction of fossil fuel power. The research contributes the following: (1) the R&D reaction is the main factor in raising the number of patent applications, while R&D efficiency needs more enhancements. (2) Reaction and production effects are imperative in raising the number of patent applications during the study period. (3) R&D expenditure presents a significant rise in renewable energy technologies (RETs), by 6.7% yearly, which ultimately impacts the economy, sustainability, and the environment. (4) Energy intensity shows a lowering trend in economic development, which confirms that that share of energy will decline, and that Pakistan will move towards significant contributions. Finally, the results show that raising R&D investments, technology transfer and engendered measures are the authentic approaches to Pakistan’s environmental and economic development. Based on the analyzed method, the study recommends that environmental regulation policies’ efficiency be incremented by investing and joining them with RETs. Furthermore, the concerned policies linked with the estimated outcomes are provided below.

Measuring Technological Collaboration on Blockchain Based on Patents: A Social Network Analysis Approach

Blockchain has been regarded as an emerging global phenomenon in the field of new technologies. However, the existing literature still lacks descriptions of the cooperation characteristics and innovation landscape of blockchain. This study uses the social network analysis method to compare the development of blockchain technology and technological collaboration in China and in the United States based on patent data. Our analyses suggest that the number of blockchain patent applications in China is increasing rapidly due to the Chinese Government developing consistent national strategies for blockchain technology. In all, both countries have notable agglomerations in a few geographical areas or cities. However, the university or enterprise block in the United States has broader and deeper cooperation, unlike the Chinese university or enterprise block, which is more inclined to cooperate within blocks and has more isolated blocks. Lastly, there are various patent attributes-influencing factors behind the importance of node cooperation. The results show that the degree of cooperation of cooperative inventors or important patents is greater in China’s cooperation network, while in the United States, the influence of enterprises rather than universities or individuals is greater.

A Study on Technology Competition of Graphene Biomedical Technology Based on Patent Analysis

Graphene, with high biocompatibility, physiological solubility and stability, has been reported as an emerging material for biomedical applications such as biosensors, drug delivery, and tissue engineering. Recently, identifying the technological competition (TC) of graphene biomedical technology has received worldwide attention from stakeholders. However, few studies have attached great importance to review the TC of this field by the analysis of patents. The main objective of this study is to develop a new and comprehensive method to investigate TC in a given technology field by conducting a patent review and then employing a patent roadmap to dig out the technology opportunity. The effectiveness of the approach is verified with the case study on graphene biomedical technology. Compared to previous research, this study makes the following important contributions. First, this study provides a new and systematic framework for the dynamic analysis of TC in a given technology field. It also extends the research perspectives of TC for industry, assignees, and technology, employs a patent roadmap to dig out technology opportunities, and enables stakeholders to understand TC from a dynamic perspective. Second, this study integrates patent analysis with a patent roadmap that has not appeared in existing methodologies of patent review. Third, it first introduces indicators (e.g., high value patent and competition position of top assignees) to the previous patent roadmap and provides a new methodology for patent roadmaps from a country level and assignee level. Finally, this study provides useful information for stakeholders interested in graphene biomedical technology, helps them to find new technology opportunities in this field, encourages them to determine the direction of future research, and has important significance for its application to diverse other emerging technologies.

Obtaining a Sustainable Competitive Advantage from Patent Information: A Patent Analysis of the Graphene Industry

Graphene serves as the most disruptive material in the twenty-first century and plays an unsubstitutable role in solving the sustainable development problems of energy crises, water shortages, and environmental pollution. Recently, obtaining a sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) in the field of graphene has gained increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners. However, few attempts have been made to summarize the SCA of this field by applying patent information. Basing on a patent-based multi-level perspective (MLP), this study aims to develop an approach to identify SCA in the target technological area by conducting a patent review from the comprehensive perspectives of the macro landscape, meso socio-technical system, and micro niches, and then integrate patent analysis with technology life cycle (TLC) theory to examine patents involving global technological competition. The effectiveness of the approach is verified with a case study on graphene. The results show that the graphene field is an emerging and fast-growing technological field, with an increasing number of patents over the year. The TLC of graphene technology demonstrated an approximate S shape, with China, the U.S., Korea, and Japan filing the largest number of graphene patents. Evidenced by Derwent Manual Codes, we found an increase in consideration given to technological application and material preparation topics over time, and research hotspots and fronts that have SCA. In terms of a leading country or region with SCA, the U.S., with a high foreign patent filing rate, large number of high forward citation patents, strong assignees’ competitive position, and large number of high-strength patents, was still the most powerful leader, with a higher SCA in the graphene industry. Korea also obtained a relatively higher SCA and will be a promising competitor in this field. Although China was shown to be catching-up very rapidly in the total number of graphene patents, the apparent innovation gaps in the foreign patent filing rate, high value patents, and Industry-University-Research Collaboration will obviously hamper Chinese catch-up efforts for obtaining SCA. As for patentees, the most powerful leaders with a higher SCA represented by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, International Business Machines Corp, and Nanotek Instruments Inc were identified. In addition, most of the high strength patents were owned by the above patentees. Further, valuable contributions to the understanding of SCA in graphene technology were summarized. First, the proposed patent-based MLP provides a new and comprehensive analytical framework for review research, as well as SCA analysis, and extends its research perspectives. Second, it introduces patent indicators to the previous MLP model, and provides a new theoretical perspective for the study of technological innovation in the previous MLP model. Third, this paper employs the TLC theory to explore the dynamic SCA in the given technology field, which further develops the concept of the MLP model from the temporal dimension. Finally, future research directions were demonstrated. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic review of this field using patent analysis, comprehensively acknowledging the current technological competition and development in the graphene field and that of the future, and can be applied to various other emerging technology fields.