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Technological impact of biomedical research: The role of basicness and novelty

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  • Ke, Qing

Abstract

An ongoing interest in innovation studies is to understand how knowledge generated from scientific research can be used in the development of technologies. While previous inquiries have devoted to studying the scientific capacity of technologies and institutional factors facilitating technology transfer, little is known about the intrinsic characteristics of scientific publications that gain direct technological impact. Here we focus on two features, namely basicness and novelty. Using a corpus of 3.8 million papers published between 1980 and 1999, we find that basic science papers and novel papers are substantially more likely to achieve direct technological impact. Further analysis that limits to papers with technological impact reveals that basic science and novel science have more patent citations, experience shorter time lag, and have impact in broader technological fields.

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  • Ke, Qing, 2020. "Technological impact of biomedical research: The role of basicness and novelty," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(7).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:49:y:2020:i:7:s0048733320301499
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2020.104071
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    3. Qing Ke, 2023. "Interdisciplinary research and technological impact: evidence from biomedicine," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(4), pages 2035-2077, April.
    4. René Belderbos & Nazareno Braito & Jian Wang, 2024. "Heterogeneous university research and firm R&D location decisions: research orientation, academic quality, and investment type," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 49(5), pages 1959-1989, October.
    5. Keye Wu & Ziyue Xie & Jia Tina Du, 2024. "Does science disrupt technology? Examining science intensity, novelty, and recency through patent-paper citations in the pharmaceutical field," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(9), pages 5469-5491, September.
    6. Shin, Hyunjin & Woo, Hyun Goo & Sohn, Kyung-Ah & Lee, Sungjoo, 2023. "Comparing research trends with patenting activities in the biomedical sector: The case of dementia," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    7. Xu, Shuo & Hao, Liyuan & Yang, Guancan & Lu, Kun & An, Xin, 2021. "A topic models based framework for detecting and forecasting emerging technologies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    8. Roh, Taeyeoun & Yoon, Byungun, 2023. "Discovering technology and science innovation opportunity based on sentence generation algorithm," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).

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