Luciano Kay

Patent overlay mapping: Visualizing technological distance

This paper presents a new global patent map that represents all technological categories and a method to locate patent data of individual organizations and technological fields on the global map. This overlay map technique may support competitive intelligence and policy decision making. The global patent map is based on similarities in citing‐to‐cited relationships between categories of the International Patent Classification (IPC) of European Patent Office (EPO) patents from 2000 to 2006. This patent data set, extracted from the PATSTAT database, includes 760,000 patent records in 466 IPC‐based categories. We compare the global patent maps derived from this categorization to related efforts of other global patent maps. The paper overlays the nanotechnology‐related patenting activities of two companies and two different nanotechnology subfields on the global patent map. The exercise shows the potential of patent overlay maps to visualize technological areas and potentially support decision making. Furthermore, this study shows that IPC categories that are similar to one another based on citing‐to‐cited patterns (and thus close in the global patent map) are not necessarily in the same hierarchical IPC branch, thereby revealing new relationships between technologies that are classified as pertaining to different (and sometimes distant) subject areas in the IPC scheme.

Developing nanotechnology in Latin America

This article investigates the development of nanotechnology in Latin America with a particular focus on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. Based on data for nanotechnology research publications and patents and suggesting a framework for analyzing the development of R&D networks, we identify three potential strategies of nanotechnology research collaboration. Then, we seek to identify the balance of emphasis upon each of the three strategies by mapping the current research profile of those four countries. In general, we find that they are implementing policies and programs to develop nanotechnologies but differ in their collaboration strategies, institutional involvement, and level of development. On the other hand, we find that they coincide in having a modest industry participation in research and a low level of commercialization of nanotechnologies.

Building capabilities for innovation in SMEs: a cross-country comparison of technology extension policies and programmes

There has been a growth of policy attention in many advanced and developing countries to stimulating innovation at the enterprise and establishment level, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper examines technology extension policies and programmes for building capabilities for innovation in SMEs for a selected set of programmes and countries in the US, Japan, Germany, Canada, Spain, and Argentina. These programmes represent a range that offer best practice insights at the international level and/or which have particular relevance for new sets of countries seeking to implement such systems. The study shows technology extension programme designs and operations are influenced by the innovation systems in which they are embedded. Drawing on our comparison of international examples, implications are discussed for the formulation of national and regional policies for the development of technology extension and related innovation programmes targeted to SMEs.

The Potential of Nanotechnology for Equitable Economic Development: The Case of Brazil

Luciano Kay and Philip Shapira take a more detailed look at the consequences of Brazilian nanotechnology, using publication and patent data. Brazil is the powerhouse of Latin America in terms of research output in nanotechnology, and national policy tries hard to link that output to innovation outcomes. However, as with most Brazilian science, the regional distribution is highly uneven, and nanotechnology shows no signs of equalizing it. Kay and Shapira examine Brazil’s performance on four criteria of equitable economic development: agenda setting; RD RD and risk awareness and allocation.

The role of Brazilian firms in nanotechnology development

Brazil is the leading country in nanotechnology research in Latin America and has been the first to implement a national policy to stimulate the productive sector to innovate in that emerging field. Based on Georgia Tech global databases of nanotechnology scientific publications and patents, we analyze the role of Brazilian firms in the development of nanotechnology, their research and commercialization activities, their collaborations, and their engagement with nanotechnology programs. We look in particular at nine case studies of leading firms. Our data show that the nanotechnology policy has stimulated research in companies in close collaboration with universities and research centers. However, most of those companies were already within a very select group of innovative firms or are very dynamic starts-ups. Overall, companies still exhibit a low innovation profile in nanotechnology, in line with the overall poor industry innovation landscape of the country.

Acquiring nanotechnology capabilities: role of mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are an important but unstudied aspect of nanotechnologys evolution. This paper uses case review and bibliometric analysis to examine 20 M&As involving acquired firms in the nanotechnology domain. The guiding proposition is that acquired firms provide complementarities to the acquiring firms. Key measures given consideration include the nature of the post-acquisition organisation, whether the pre-acquisition geographic location is retained, the purpose of the acquisitions as indicated in news releases, and the extent of similarity in research publications and patents. Differences by the country of the acquiring firm and sub-industry are noted. Within the limitations of the case study approach, the results suggest that acquired firms in the nanotechnology domain provide complementary capabilities to their acquirers.

Inter-industry knowledge flows and sectoral networks in the economy of Malaysia

This research probes the configuration of technological systems in terms of inter-sectoral knowledge and intermediate goods exchanges based on a case study of 21 industry sectors in the economy of Malaysia. The case study draws on a network analysis of sectoral knowledge flows survey data and input–output exchange statistics. The results show that knowledge acquisition and dissemination networks are relatively more intra-sector, denser, and centralized than goods exchange networks, which can affect how innovations spread through the economy. Knowledge networks, however, are more likely to form sub-networks with potentially diverse capabilities and influence on the technological system. This adds new information and value for knowledge-based sectoral investment strategies.

Visual Analysis of Patent Data Through Global Maps and Overlays

Visual analytics has been increasingly used to help to better grasp the complexity and evolution of scientific and technological activities over time, across science and technological areas and in organisations. This chapter presents general insights into some important fields of expertise such as mapping, network analysis and visual analytics applied to patent information retrieval and analysis. We also present a new global patent map and overlay technique and illustrative examples of its application. The concluding remarks offer considerations for future patent analysis and visualisation.