Temporal and spatial relations between patents and scientific journal articles: the case of nanotechnologies

 Finardi Ugo
(Università di Torino e Ceris-Cnr)
Università di Torino - Dipartimento di Chimica I.F.M.
and NIS - Centre of Excellence
via P. Giuria, 7 - 10125 Torino (Italy)
Tel. +39/011.670 83 85 -Fax +39/011.670 78 55
ugo.finardi@unito.it

 

Abstract: Patent citations have been widely used in order to study inter-technology and science-technology relations. The present work aims at:
i) exploring time relations and distance between technical/innovative activities and scientific knowledge, using journal articles citations in patents as a proxy;   
ii) exploring the origin of the knowledge cited in patents.       
The study is performed on a field particularly relevant both on the scientific and technological side, that of nanosciences and nanotechnologies. In parallel a field less on the edge of research (polymers) is studied in order to compare results and shed better light on what is happening in nanotech. Studied items show a common behaviour and a higher rate of citations and a shorter time lag between citing patents and cited articles for nanotechnologies rather than for polymers. Knowledge cited in patents shows in many cases a common origin with that of citing documents. Conclusions on these behaviours are drawn.

 

Keywords:     Patent-research relations, Patent, Journal Article, Nanoscience, Nanotechnologies, Polymers, Technological trajectories, Data mining, Innovation, Knowledge diffusion

 JEL-codes: L6, O31, O33

The author thanks Prof. S. Coluccia (University of Torino, Italy) for helpful comments and suggestions, as well as for continuous support. The help of Prof. F. Malerba (CESPRI-KITES – Università Bocconi) for seminal ideas and revision of preliminary material is acknowledged, as well as the anonimous referees who reviewed this paper. Usual disclaimer applies.