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Inventor networks in emerging key technologies: information technology vs. semiconductors

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  • Holger Graf

Abstract

This paper analyzes the development of the German knowledge base measured by co-classifications of patents by German inventors and relate this technological development to changes in the structure of the underlying inventor networks. The central hypothesis states that technologies that become more central to the knowledge base are also characterized by a higher connectedness of the inventor network. The theoretical considerations are exemplified in a comparative study of two patenting fields—information technology and semiconductors. It turns out that information technology shows the highest increases in patents, but only a moderate move towards the center of the knowledge base. By contrast, semiconductors develops towards a key technology, despite a moderate increase in the number of patents. The dynamic analysis of inventor networks in both fields shows an increasing connectedness and the emergence of a large component in semiconductors, but not in information technology, which is in line with the expectations.
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  • Holger Graf, 2012. "Inventor networks in emerging key technologies: information technology vs. semiconductors," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 459-480, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joevec:v:22:y:2012:i:3:p:459-480
    DOI: 10.1007/s00191-011-0248-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Shu-Hao Chang, 2024. "International Technology Market Hotspots and Development Trends from the Perspective of Inventor Mobility," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 2361-2382, March.
    2. Stefano Basilico & Holger Graf, 2023. "Bridging technologies in the regional knowledge space: measurement and evolution," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 1085-1124, September.
    3. Ekaterina Prytkova, 2021. "ICT's Wide Web: a System-Level Analysis of ICT's Industrial Diffusion with Algorithmic Links," Jena Economics Research Papers 2021-005, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    4. Chang, Shu-Hao, 2017. "The technology networks and development trends of university-industry collaborative patents," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 107-113.
    5. Mark Knell, 2021. "The digital revolution and digitalized network society," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 9-25, April.
    6. Maaß, Frank & Schröder, Christian & Wolter, Hans-Jürgen, 2013. "Kleine und mittlere Unternehmen der Informations- und Kommunikationswirtschaft in Nordrhein-Westfalen," IfM-Materialien 224, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    7. Barbosa, Sergio & Sáiz, Patricio & Zofío, José L., 2024. "The emergence and historical evolution of innovation networks: On the factors promoting and hampering patent collaboration in technological lagging economies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(5).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Knowledge relatedness; Inventor networks; Interdisciplinary research; Patents; Key technology; O31; Z13;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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