Research-Technology Management

ISSN: 0895-6308 (Print) 1930-0166 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/urtm20

Using Patent Data for Technology Analysis and

Planning

Mary Ellen Mogee

To cite this article: Mary Ellen Mogee (1991) Using Patent Data for Technology Analysis and
Planning, Research-Technology Management, 34:4, 43-49

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08956308.1991.11670755

Published online: 27 Jan 2016.

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 USING PATENT DATA FOR TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS
AND PLANNING
Statistical analysis o f international paten t records lets you assess and forecast activity
in both mature and emerging technologies.

Mary Ellen M ogee

Patents have several advantages as a “technology H ow It W orks

indicator.” In addition to being p ublic inform ation,
p atents p rov id e a w ealth of detailed inform ation, The m eth o d consists o f co n d u ctin g a p a te n t search on
th e o nline database WORLD PATENTS INDEX (W PI), and
co m prehensive coverage of techno log ies and countries,
a relatively standardized level o f invention, and long th e n using specially d evelop ed softw are to c o n v e rt the
tim e-series o f data. p ate n t reco rd s into a statistical data set w h ich can be
analyzed in a variety o f ways (7 ). W hat m akes this
U ntil recently, how ever, significant q uestion s h in d ered approach different from oth ers is its use of international
m o re extensive use o f p a te n t data by co rp o ra te p a te n t rec o rd s (se e editorial box, n e x t page), its
technology m anagers. TTie ch ief question c o n c e rn e d the analytical flexibility, th e fact th at it w as d evelo ped in
validity o f p a te n t data as a m easure o f technology. co op eratio n w ith c o rp o ra te tech no logy p lan ners and
A nother frequ ently ex p ressed c o n c e rn w as th at patents assessors, and th e fact that it has b e e n validated against
vary w idely in th eir im portance, w h ich is n o t reflected e x p ert opinion.
in sim ple p a te n t counts. Analysts have also b een
c o n c e rn e d ab out th e tim eliness o f p a te n t data and the For a given technology, the m eth o d p ro d u c e s a series o f
utility o f existing p a te n t technology classifications. statistical re p o rts and graphics dep ictin g th e level of
technological activity, active areas o f th e technology,
Many o f these q uestions have b een resolved by a im portan t inventions, inventors, and m arkets in w hich
recen tly c o m p leted study. T he study d evelop ed a p ro te c tio n has b een sought for th e technology. These
m eth o d o f statistically analyzing international p aten t analyses can be c o n d u c te d at th e w o rld w id e level (i.e.,
re c o rd s for use in assessing and forecasting th e all cou ntries and all firm s) o r bro k en d o w n b y co un try
technological activities o f c om petitors. T he m eth o d was o r by firm. In this way, th e m eth o d provides th e “big
applied to an em erging technology— sol-gel p ro cessing of p ic tu re ” o f w h at has b een hap penin g arou nd th e w o rld
glasses, ceram ics and glass-ceram ics— and a m ature in the inform ation o n th e technological d irectio n s of
technology— nitric acid p ro d u c tio n technology. The p articu lar firms, the inventors they em ploy, and the
study w as c o n d u c te d in c o o p eratio n w ith tw o com panies w o rld m arkets in w h ich they are choosing to p ro te c t
in te rested in applications of p a ten t analysis: Air Products th eir technology.
and Chem icals, Inc., and C orning In corp orated . The
results of th e p a te n t analysis w e re validated by T he m eth o d prom ises to b e o f value to R&D,
com parison w ith e x p e rt opinion. technology, planning, patent, and m arketing departm ents.
It w ill be a useftil addition to technology assessm ent and
T he study co n c lu d e d that statistical analysis of characterization processes, w h e re it can provide
in ternational p a te n t rec o rd s is a valuable tool for additional, confirm ing inform ation o n th e life-cycle stage
co rp o ra te technology analysis and planning. Overall, the of a technology and co m p e tito r strategies. Use of
results o f th e p a te n t analysis con fo rm ed qu ite w ell w ith international p a te n t data can b e especially helpful in
th e opinion o f technology experts. P atent tren d s clearly analyzing technologies w h e re th e firm has lim ited
distinguished b e tw e e n the em erging technology and the e xp ertise o r w h e re th e firm is co nsidering a m ajor
m atu re technology. Forecasts using a life-cycle m odel got international move.
qu ite high validity scores.

Validating th e M ethod
Mary Ellen Mogee is an independent consultant in Great Falls,
Virginia specializing in science and technology policy and A q uestionnaire w as adm inistered to e x p e rts in th e
management. Patent analysis has been one of her areas of technology w h o w e re se lected by th e c o o p eratin g firms
concentration over the past several years. Mogee is also on the from am ong th eir technical perso nn el. In b o th cases,
adjunct faculty of the George Washington University, where
she received her Ph.D. in political science and teaches R&D usable questionnaires w e re received from fo ur experts.
management and international science and technology in the T he m ost successful validity m easure w as a q uestion th at
July-August 1991

Management Science Department. Prior to establishing her own asked the e x p e rt to con sid er th e results o f a particular
business, she was employed as a policy analyst by several p ate n t analysis— e.g., activity ov er tim e— and to indicate
Federal agencies, including the U.S. Patent and Trademark the e x te n t to w h ich it co nfo rm ed w ith his o r h e r ow n
Office, where she was a section head in the Office of
Technology Assessment and Forecast. The research underlying know ledge o f th e technology. Six possible responses
her article was supported by a grant from the Center for w e re scored as follows: “N ot at all” (1 ), “Som ew hat
Innovation Management Studies at Lehigh University. w ell” (2 ), “M oderately w ell” (3 ), “Q uite w e ll” (4 ), 43
 In tern ation al P atentin g and Patent Indicators called “equivalents.” Information about the basic patent and
equivalents reveals the countries in which protection was
Most patent analysis to date has relied exclusively on United sought for the invention.
States patent data, arguing that the U.S. market attracts all, or
most, of the technologies developed in the world. However, Patent documents generally include references to previous
foreign markets for high technology are increasing in patents that establish the prior art and support the claims in
importance. Moreover, the U.S., as the home country, cannot the patent. Several previous studies have found that the
be included in international comparisons based on U.S. number of times a patent has been cited by subsequent
patent statistics, because the incentives to obtain a patent at patents is correlated with its “Importance,” defined in terms
home differ from those to obtain a patent abroad. Finally, a of its technological or economic significance. Trajtenberg
significant proportion of the world’s inventions is not (2 ) found that patents weighted by the number of
patented in the U.S. This is clearly shown in analyses based subsequent citations were highly correlated with an
on international patent data. independent measure of the economic value of the
inventions. Carpenter, Narin, and Woolf (3 ) found that
The WORLD PATENTS INDEX (WPI), published by Derwent inventions represented among the IR*100 (an annual list of
Ltd., contains patent data from the 30 main patenting noteworthy innovations) were more highly cited than a
countries and authorities around the world, organized into random sample of patents. Narin, Rosen and Olivastro (4 )
“international patent families.” International patent families found that U.S. patents that are renewed are much more
arise from the legal requirement for a firm to seek a patent highly cited than patents which have been allowed to lapse.
in each country in which it wishes to apply an invention Narin, Noma, and Perry (5 ) found high correlations between
commercially (o r prevent others from doing so). This corporate patent and patent citation data and several other
practice results in the publication of multiple patent indicators of corporate performance. Mogee in the present
documents—i.e., the family—that describe a single study (6 ) found the number of subsequent citations and
invention. The advantage of focusing on patent families is number of international patent family members were
that it eliminates multiple-counting of a single invention correlated.
across countries.
The WPI database includes the references only from
The first application for a patent is called the priority European Patent Office and Patent Cooperation Treaty
application. For analytical purposes, it is assumed that firms patents, and these commence only in 1978. Therefore, the
apply for protection first in their home country and that is references in U.S. patents are also included. The number of
the country in which the R&D was done. In time-series times a patent family has been cited in the WPI database or
tabulations of patent families, the date of the priority in the USPM database (a database of U.S. patents) is counted
application is used, because that is the date which is closest and used as a weight for technological importance. No
to the time the R&D was done. normalizing is done for the age of the patent being cited,
because of Trajtenberg’s finding that, although older patents
The first patent document to be published is called the received more citations, it was not just because of their age
“basic patent” and those that are published subsequently are (2).—M.E.M.

“A lm ost co m p le te ly ” (5 ), and “D o n ’t k n o w ” (0 ). The (T able 1). This characterization conform ed q u ite w ell
e x p e rt resp onses w e re averaged and th e resulting w ith that o f ex p erts know ledgeable abo ut th e
n u m b e r te rm e d th e “co nfo rm ance sc o re ” for that technology.
p artic u la r analysis (6 ).
An analysis of th e en try /ex it pattern s of firm s active in
nitric acid p ro d u c tio n technology— th at is, th e years in
E xam ples o f A p plications w h ich firms first and last p a te n te d in the
technology— sho w ed th at alm ost all th e m ajor firm s that
A pplications include rival analysis, technology tracking had o nce b e e n active had d ro p p e d out. M oreover, no
and forecasting, identifying im p o rtan t technical m ajor firm s had begu n paten tin g in re c e n t years. This
d evelo p m en ts, and intern ational strategic analysis, as w ell p attern, co m bin ed w ith an overall declining tre n d in
as tradition al uses of p a te n t data such as infringem ent patenting for the past 10 years (Figure 1), suggested that
m o n ito rin g and c u rre n t aw areness. the technology w as in a state o f decline. O nly o n e m ajor
firm (in term s of p aten tin g), a foreign firm th at w as not
1. R iv a l A n a ly sis.— Using tech no lo gy cod es included in know n to the technology experts, w as identified as
th e p a te n t reco rd s, it is possible to characterize the
Research • Technology M anagt

possibly con tin uing activity in this technology.

techn olog ical d ire c tio n s bein g p u rsu e d by individual
firms. For exam ple, an analysis o f sol-gel processing of 2. T echnology T ra ckin g a n d F orecasting.— The
glasses, ceram ics and glass-ceram ics sho w ed distinct technology tren d s and forecasts ob tained for tw o very
differences b e tw e e n th e techn olog ical d irection s of th ree different technologies— o ne em erging and on e
m ajor firm s active in th at technology: C orning w o rk ed m ature— illustrate w h at may b e learned from
o n b o th glasses and ceram ics, c o n c e n tra tin g on chem ical international p ate n t data.
c o m p o sitio n s o f th ese m aterials; Seiko-Epson
c o n c e n tra te d heavily o n glass m anufacture; w hile AT&T Patenting in nitric acid p ro d u c tio n technology sho w ed a
4 4 p u rsu e d glass optical fiber m anufacture and applications flurry o f activity in th e early 1970s, follow ed by
 T able 1—D irectio n s in Sol-Gel Technology technology (as m easured by citatio n s) all co n c e rn e d
P u rsu e d By Three F irm s effluent reduction.
SEIKO-EPSON Richard Cam pbell hypo thesized a technological life cycle
• Glass manufacture by sol-gel process (71% ) o f four stages— em ergence, grow th, m aturity, and
• Production & modification of Si02 or hydrate ob solescence— that can b e ch aracterized in term s of
(35% ) p a te n t activity and c o n c e n tra tio n (7 ). Fitting th e data
CORNING INCORPORATED from nitric acid p ro d u c tio n techn olog y in to a m odified
• Compounds of Be, Mg, Al, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra, Th, and version o f C am pbell’s m o del (T able 2 ) p ro d u c e d the
rare earths (25% ) follow ing analysis and forecast:
• Compounds of Zr, Hf (25% )
• Forming glass hollow-ware (25% ) In the late 1960s, nitric acid p ro d u c tio n technology was
• “Other” glass-forming processes (25% ) already m atu re (relatively low p a te n t activity, relatively
• Electrical and electronic applications of glass high p a te n t c o n cen tratio n ). It was destabilized by
(25% ) g overnm en t regulations o n pollution re d u c tio n and
• Melting and casting of ceramics (25% ) changes in m arkets for th e chem ical, w h ich caused it to
• Oxide ceramics, including “technical” ceramics re-en ter th e stages o f e m erg en ce and g ro w th in th e early
(25% )
1970s (in creasin g activity, decreasing co ncentration ).
• Electronic oxide ceramics (25% )
• “O ther” oxide ceramic preparation (25% ) After this b rief sp urt o f activity, th e technology resum ed
• Antiperspirants (25% ) its m atu re p a tte rn o f low and decreasin g activity and
increasing co ncentration. Based on this m odel, on e
AT&T w o u ld forecast that nitric acid p ro d u c tio n technology
• Manufacture of guiding structures for fiber
w ill rem ain low in activity unless d istu rb ed o n ce m ore
optics (83% )
• Manufacture of glass by sol-gel process (33% ) by outside factors such as m o re strin gent regulations,
• Glass fiber manufacture ( 33% ) m arket changes o r m ajor technological developm ents.
• Optical applications of glass fibers (33% ) T he o th e r technology— sol-gel processing o f glasses,
ceram ics and glass-ceram ics— sh o w ed a very different
pattern. Activity, as m easured by th e n u m b e r o f paten t
families p e r year (Figure 5 ) and by th e n u m b er o f firms,
w as q u ite low until 1980 b u t show ed rapid gro w th
thereafter. Activity in this “em erg ing” technology took
declining paten tin g thro u g h 1987 (Figure I). T he m ost place prim arily in th e U.S., Japan and W est Germany. A
im portan t activity (as m easured by citatio n s) o c c u rred larger p ro p o rtio n of th e activity, especially th e im portant
early in the period. The n u m b er o f firms active in th e activity, w as p a te n te d in th e U.S. than in th e old er
technology follow ed th e sam e general p a tte rn o f rise and technology.
decline. M uch o f this activity w as n o t p ate n te d in th e Using technology cod es assigned by D erw ent, th e m ost
U nited States (Figure 2). In particular, th e e x p e rts w e re active areas o f th e techn olog y w e re identified as
surprised to learn o f th e high level o f activity in Eastern addressing glass com positions, fiber optics, ceram ics, and
E urope and th e USSR (Figure 3). electroch em ical features of glasses and ceram ics (T able
3). O ne o f th e questions was h o w m uch w o rk w as being
A pplying o u r o w n technology categories, it was d o n e in th e glass-ceram ics area and w h o w as doing it.
disco vered that although th e largest area o f activity was T he analysis indicated that although w o rk on sol-gel
d ire c te d at p ro d u c in g th e chem ical, th e secon d largest processing o f glasses and ceram ics had accelerated, w ork
area w as d ire c te d at red ucin g noxiou s effluents. Effluent on glass-ceramics had rem ained at low levels during th e
re d u c tio n a c c o u n ted for m u ch o f th e flurry o f activity in p erio d stud ied (Figure 6). O nly a few firm s had dev oted
th e early 1970s, co rresp o n d in g w ith th e pu blication of significant effort to sol-gels for prep arin g glass-ceramics,
en vironm ental regulations in th e U.S. (Figure 4). Further, and m ost o f them had d ro p p e d o u t o f sol-gel activity by
th e th re e m ost im p o rtan t d evelop m ents in the th e end o f this period.

T able 2—Life-Cycle A nalysis f o r N itric A cid P ro d u ctio n Technology (A verage I n d ic a to r P e r Y ear)

Ind icator 1969-71 1972-74 1975-77 1978-80 1981-83 1984-86
Activity
July-August 1991

No. Families 13.7 17.7 10.3 9.3 6.3 5.3

Weighted Families 27.7 38.3 26.7 19.3 9.0 6.0
No. Active Firms 13.3 17.0 11.7 9.3 6.3 6.0
Concentration
(top 4 firms % ) 44.7% 34.6% 35.0% 50.3% 76.3% 69.0%
 50 PERCENT OF FAMILIES
30 I-------------------------------------

40

FA MI LIE S

W T D FA MI L IE S

US JP DE FR GB SU CS PL RO
1970 1975 1980 1085
YE AR
US ■ United States SU = Soviet Union
F igure 1.— N u m b e r o f P a te n t F a m ilie s P er Year, CS = Czechoslovakia
JP = Japan
W eig h ted b y C ita tio n s a n d U nw eighted, f o r N itric A c id DE = West Germany PL = Poland
FR = France RO = Romania
P ro d u c tio n Technology.
GB = Great Britain
F igure 3-— C o u n try o f A c tiv ity f o r N itric A c id
P ro d u ctio n Technology.

25 NUMBER OF FAMILIES
16

14
20

F
A 101
M
ALL FA M IL IE S
I
L W / U.S. M E M B ER
I
E
3

1970 1975 1980 1986 1990

1970 1976 1980 1985
PRIORITY YEAR
YEAR
PRESSURE - B - PRODUCTION NOx ABATEMENT
F igure 2.— N u m b e r o f P a te n t F a m ilie s P er Year
W o rld w id e a n d w ith a U.S. M em ber, f o r N itric A c id Figure 4.— N u m b e r o f P a te n t F a m ilies in Three B road
P ro d u c tio n Technology. T echnology Classes f o r N itric A c id P ro d u c tio n

Fitting th e p a te n t data in to th e life cycle m odel revealed this, as m entio n ed earlier, is by w eighting th e paten t
th a t sol-gel technology clearly em erg ed about 1980 and counts w ith the n u m b er of citations received from later
p ro b ab ly passed from th e em erging to th e grow th stage patents.
by th e e n d o f 1986. It is difficult to p re d ic t h o w long Tw o im portant dim ensions— technical and
g ro w th w ill co n tin u e and to w h at levels. Data on new econom ic— are o f in terest to firms. Econom ic
m arket in tro d u ctio n s, w h ic h w e re also co llected as p art
im portance o r value is ultim ately o f m ost interest, and
o f th e research, seem to indicate that m ajor com m ercial p erceiv ed econom ic p o tential is certainly o n e m otivation
successes have n o t o ccu rred , w h ich may act to limit
Research • Technology’ M anagem et'it

for seeking a patent. Because p aten t references are m ade

fu rth e r g ro w th in technological activity. prim arily to establish th e p rio r art and to establish the
technological bounds o f a p a te n t’s claims, how ever,
3. Id e n tify in g Im p o r ta n t D evelo p m en ts.— ^Although paten t citations are probably a b e tte r indicator of
p a te n t c o u n ts m ay b e u sed to quantify th e level of technological im portance than of eco n o m ic im portance.
activity in a technology, they do n o t reflect the
im p o rtan ce o f th at activity. Firms often w ish to identify In th e m eth o d being describ ed here, p a te n t citations are
th e truly im p o rtan t technological d evelopm ents in a used to identify the m ost technically im p o rtan t patents
field, o r th ey m ay w a n t to know w h ich inventors o r in a field (T able 4), as w ell as th e firms and inventors
firm s have b e e n d oing th e m ost influential technical doing th e m ost im portant technical work. Typically, after
w ork. It is th u s d esirable to b e able to d eterm in e the the highly cited p aten t families are identified, the
46 im p o rtan ce o f individual patents. O n e m eth o d o f doing co rresp o n d in g p aten t reco rd s o r p a te n t d o cu m en ts
 250
sol-gel technology— sho w ed strikingly different p attern s
(Figure 7). C orning show ed m ajor in te re st in 12
200 different co u n trie s (i.e., m o re than half o f its inventions
F
A
w e re p a te n te d in each of th ose c o u n tries). 3M show ed
M 150 m ajor in tere st in nine o f these countries. Seiko-Epson, on
I FA MI LIE S
L th e o th e r hand, sho w ed a m ajor in terest only in Japan
I W T D FAMS
E 100 and a lesser deg ree o f in te re st in five o th e r countries.
S This, along w ith data on th e international paten tin g of
o th e r Japanese firms, suggests th at th e Japanese strategy
50
is to p ate n t everything in Japan b u t only to p u rsu e broad
international coverage on a few inventions.
1970 1975 1980 1985
5. In fr in g e m e n t M o n ito rin g a n d C u rrent
YEAR
A w areness.— T he n e w m e th o d can also enhance
F igure 5 .— N u m b e r o f Sol-G el P a te n t F a m ilie s p e r traditional uses o f p a te n t rec o rd s and d o cu m en ts for
Year, W eighted b y C ita tio n s a n d U n w eig h ted p a te n t infringem ent m o nitorin g and c u rre n t aw areness
services, by perm ittin g a system atic and th o ro u g h review
200 of large nu m b ers o f p ate n t records. M oreover, because
m any foreign co u n tries publish p a te n t applications 18
m onths after they are filed, one can learn ab o u t n ew
F 150 inventions earlier by m o nitoring international p aten t
L 01 & L0 2 ( G L A S 8 - 0 E R ) reco rd s than by m on ito ring U.S. p aten ts only.
LOS (E L E C T R O -O H E M )
100
L 0 2 (C E R A M IC )

L01 (GL AS S ) W h a t W e C a n L e a rn
T he results o f th e study suggest that, despite the
w ell-know n shortcom ings of p a te n t data as indicators of
technological activity, statistical analysis o f international
1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 p ate n t rec o rd s is a valid m eans o f assessing and
YEAR forecasting activity in b o th em erging and m atu re
technologies. T he m eth o d is particularly useftil in
F igure 6.— N u m b e r o f Sol-G el P a te n t F a m ilies p e r
sketching th e “big p ic tu re ” o f activity in a
Y ear f o r S elected D e rw e n t Codes.
technology— including past trends, th e life cycle stage,
and w h e th e r m o re o r less activity can be exp ected.

Because n o t all inventions are paten ted , th e m etho d

can not be used to com pile a com preh en siv e inventory of
w o u ld b e review ed for a b e tte r un derstan ding o f th eir all firms active in a technology o r all d ev elop m en ts in a
significance. field. Patent analysis can, how ever, p rov id e inform ation
on active firm s and d ev elo pm en ts that is significant to
Review ing tre n d s in w eig h ted p aten tin g activity over
tim e can also help refine life cycle analyses (Figures 1
and 5). Previous research has found that often, as a field
develops, a few sem inal p aten ts are follow ed by large
n u m b ers o f p aten ts for im p ro vem ents u p o n th e basic
inventions {3 ,8 ). A lthough such sem inal p atents w ould T able 3—A ctive A reas o f Sol-Gel Technology,
b e h id d en in u n w eig h ted trends, they cause peaks in B a se d on D erw en t C odes
w e ig h ted activity levels th at indicate p erio d s w h en
particularly im p ortant w o rk w as done. N um ber
of % of
4. In te r n a tio n a l S tra tegic A n a ly sis.— ^WPI reco rd s Area Fam ilies Families
include inform ation on th e co u n tries in w h ich a firm has Glass, including
sought p ro te c tio n for its inventions. This inform ation can compositions 387 75
p rovide insight in to a co m pany ’s strategy for exploiting Non-metallic elements,
its technology internationally. O ne may infer from the semi-metals and
fact th at a firm has applied for a p a te n t in a particular their compounds 148 29
c o u n try that th e firm sees po ten tial eco n o m ic value to Optics 101 20
b e d eriv ed from making, using o r selling th e invention in Fiber optics 89 17
Refractories, ceramics,
July-August 1991

th at country.
cement 65 13
T he international strategies o f p articu lar firm s can be Electro-( in )organic,
ch aracterized by looking at th e p ro p o rtio n o f th eir chemical features of
inventions p a te n te d in various countries. This type of the above, including
semiconductors 61 12
analysis— c o n d u c te d for Seiko-Epson, C orning and 3M in
 T able 4—M ost H ighly C ited Sol-Gel P a te n t F am ilies
Priority
Citations Firm Yr/Country Title

28 Hitachi KK 1979/Japan Making optical glass by hydrolysing silicon alkoxide

solution using hydrolysing vessel lined with
nonwetting silicone or fluorocarbon resin.
26 Corning Incorporated 1982/U.S. Glass or ceramic body mfd. by gelling casting of
fumed oxide in non-aqueous suspension and
sintering is useful as waveguide preform.
26 3M 1984/U.S. Soluble poly-hydrido-silane(s) and derivs. may be
converted to pyropolymer, opt. contg. nitrogen,
useful as abrasives, ceramics, electrical or
electro-optical materials.

th e co m pany co n d u c tin g th e analysis and is n o t know n T he m eth o d may be less useful for analyzing m arkets and
to e x p e rts in th e com pany. (A large p ro p o rtio n — o n th e inventors, dep en d in g o n th e p articular technology being
o rd e r o f 50 p e rc e n t to 75 p e rc e n t— of th e firms studied. T echnologies th at have em erg ed since 1978 and
p ate n tin g in th e techn olo gy and th e individual are n o t d om in ated by th e Japanese may have b e tte r
d ev e lo p m e n ts w e re n o t reco g n ized by th e ex perts inventor data, for exam ple. P atent analyses may p ro d u ce
c o o p era tin g in th e stu d y .) m o re valid m arket intelligence w h e n applied to p ro du ct,
rath e r than process, technologies.
T he m e th o d m ay p ro d u c e so m ew h at m o re useful results
for em ergin g techno lo gies than for m atu re technologies. As w ith any tool o f this type, international p ate n t analysis
Even for th e m atu re techn olog y in this study, how ever, provides inform ation th at is in com plete, b u t nevertheless
co n fo rm an ce w ith e x p e rt o p in io n w as b e tw een valuable. As on e c o o p eratin g com pany official said, th e
“m o d erately g o o d ” and “q u ite good.” p ro cess is no t d irective— th at is, decisions cann ot be

FIRM COUNTRIES

US JP DE FR GB CA NL CH AT ES NO SE

Seiko -E p so n X X X X

Corning

3M

US = United States GB = Great Britain AT = Austria

Research • Technology' M anagem ent

JP = Japan CA = Canada ES == Spain

DE = West Germany NL = Netherlands NO = Norway
FR » France CH = Switzerland SE ' Sweden

! = Major Interest x = Interest

48 F igure 7.— C o u n tries in W hich S elected F irm s Seek P ro tectio n f o r Sol-G el Technology.
 m ade on th e basis o f p a te n t inform ation alone— b u t it
prov ides very stro n g hints. Patent analysis should be
In tern a tio n a l stra teg ies o f
u se d as an additional p iece o f inform ation to confirm o r p a rtic u la r fir m s can be
q u estio n hyp oth eses ab o u t a technology th at th e firm has c h a ra cterized by looking a t
already form ulated o n th e basis of o th e r inform ation
available to it. the p ro p o rtio n o f th eir
In conclusion, ex p e rie n c e w ith this m eth o d reconfirm s inventions p a te n te d in
th e w ell-know n adage w ith resp ec t to science and variou s countries.
tech no lo gy indicators th a t any single indicator m ust be
u sed in co n ju n ctio n w ith o th e r inform ation and insights.
This m e th o d and oth ers like it are m ost useful w h e n
in teg rated into larger com pany p ro cesses o f technical
intelligence and decision making. In particular, it is
im p o rtan t to have technical exp erts involved in the
A. F. J. van Raan, ed. H andbook o f Q uantitative Studies o f
e n tire p ro cess o f technology definition, p ate n t search Science and Technology (New York: North-Holland), 1988, pp.
and analysis o f results. ® 37-47.
5. F. Narin, E. Noma and R. Perry. “Patents as Indicators of
Corporate Technological Strength,” Research Policy 16 (1987),
References pp. 143-155.
1. Inquiries about the software may be directed to the author 6. M. E. Mogee, “International Patent Data for Technology
at 212 Carrwood Road, Great Falls, VA 22066. Analysis and Planning,” Final Report to the Center for
2. M. Trajtenberg. “Patents, Citations, and Innovations: Tracing Innovation Management Studies, Lehigh University, October
the Linlcs,” (Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic 1990.
Research, Working Paper No. 2457, 1987). 7. Richard S. Campbell, “Patent Trends as a Technological
3. M. Carpenter, F. Narin and P. Woolf “Citation Rates to Forecasting Tool,” Workshop on Patent and Innovation
Technologically Important Patents,” World Patent Inform ation Statistics (Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and
3(1 9 8 1 ), pp. 160-163. Development (OECD), 1982).
4. F. Narin, M. Rosen and D. Olivastro. “Patent Citation 8. V. Walsh, “Invention and Innovation in the Chemical
Analysis: New Validation Studies and Linkage Statistics,” in IndustryR esearch Policy 13 (1984), pp. 211-234.

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Selected articles from re c e n t issues are n o w available on audio cassettes.
1 98 8—3: “Selecting R&D Program s and O bjectives,” by Lowell W. Steele.
1988—4: “M anaging R&D P rojects,” by Paul B. Klim stra and Jo sep h Potts.
1 9 8 8 -5 : “M anaging Financial R esources,” by Lynn W. Ellis.
1 9 8 6 -6 : “M anaging H um an R esources,” by M ichael K. Badawy.
1 9 8 8 -7 : “M anaging Physical R esources— I: C o m pu ters and C om m unications,” by R obert W. Lucky; II;
“R&D Facilities,” by M artin D. Raab.
1 9 8 9 -1 : “IRI’S First 100 Years,” by Geoffrey Place; “Im proving P roductivity T hrough T echnology Push,”
by W illiam E. Souder.
1 9 8 9 -2 : “W ho D iscovers and Invents,” and “Strategies o f Research,” by R obert S. Root-Bernstein.
1 9 8 9 -3 : “W hat O n e Laboratory Has Learned A bout P erform ance Appraisal,” by K enneth E. Apt and David
W. W atkins; “R&D Inform ation Systems,” by Thom as L. Case and Jo h n R. Pickett.
1 9 8 9 -4 : “R ew arding T echnical T eam w ork,” by Ju d ith C. M ow er and David W ilem on; “T ransferring N ew
T echnologies From R&D to M anufacturing,” by W illiam E. Souder and Venkatesh Padm anabhan.
1 9 8 9 -5 : “M oving IBM’s T echnology From R esearch to D evelopm ent,” by Ralph E. G om ory; “Japanese
R&D in th e U nited States,” by Evan H erbert.
1 9 9 0 -1 : “H ow Successful T echnical Professionals A chieve Results,” by B ernard L. Rosenbaum ; “Managing
M ajor C hange in R&D,” by G eorge F. Farris and Lynn W. Ellis.
1 9 9 0 -2 : “D o M ergers and A cquisitions H urt R&D?” by R obert R. Miller; “Im proving th e P erform ance of
N ew P ro d u ct Team s,” by D eborah A ncona and David Caldwell.
1 9 9 0 -3 : “H ow R&D Affects Sales G row th, P roductivity and Profitability,” by Graham K. M orbey and
R obert M. R eithner; “Five M yths o f Industry/U niversity C ooperative Research— and th e Realities,” by K eith
W. M cHenry.
1990—4: “ 101 Tips for Managing R&D M ore Effectively,” by R obert Szakonyi.
1 9 9 1 -1 : “M anaging R esearch Q uality,” by G eorge W. Roberts; “H ow G ood Is O u r Research?,” by W alter L
Robb.
July-August 1991

1 9 9 1 -2 : “A N ew M ission for C orpo rate T echnology,” by Law rence H. Linden.

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