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Patents and publications as sources of novel and inventive knowledge

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  • Christian Sternitzke

    (Ilmenau University of Technology
    University of Bremen)

Abstract

This paper briefly reviews the knowledge-generation process and explores to what degree technical and scientific knowledge from prior art anticipates novelty or the inventive step of an invention. Inventions are novel if they have not been described (in the public) before, and they are inventive if the technical solution was non-obvious to a skilled person in the field. We employ a novel approach of patent citation analysis to investigate this phenomenon. Since in this context common approaches of such citation analysis are biased (usually, citations are neither exhaustive nor relevant in their entirety), we focus on examination reports of European patent applications and the references given therein. Our findings reveal that particularly technical knowledge comprised in patents serves as a source of novelty, while scientific knowledge frequently stems from multiple scientific papers and accounts for the inventive step. In addition, it is found that in many cases scientific knowledge is of commercial relevance and therefore constitutes more than general background information that aids the technical knowledge generation process.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Sternitzke, 2009. "Patents and publications as sources of novel and inventive knowledge," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 79(3), pages 551-561, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:79:y:2009:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-007-2041-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-007-2041-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Julie Callaert & Maikel Pellens & Bart Looy, 2014. "Sources of inspiration? Making sense of scientific references in patents," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(3), pages 1617-1629, March.
    2. Whalen, Ryan, 2018. "Boundary spanning innovation and the patent system: Interdisciplinary challenges for a specialized examination system," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(7), pages 1334-1343.
    3. Guifeng Liu, 2013. "Visualization of patents and papers in terahertz technology: a comparative study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 94(3), pages 1037-1056, March.
    4. Alfonso Ávila-Robinson & Shintaro Sengoku, 2017. "Tracing the knowledge-building dynamics in new stem cell technologies through techno-scientific networks," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(3), pages 1691-1720, September.
    5. Péter Érdi & Kinga Makovi & Zoltán Somogyvári & Katherine Strandburg & Jan Tobochnik & Péter Volf & László Zalányi, 2013. "Prediction of emerging technologies based on analysis of the US patent citation network," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(1), pages 225-242, April.
    6. Davit Khachatryan & Brigitte Muehlmann, 2017. "Determinants of successful patent applications to combat financial fraud," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(3), pages 1353-1383, June.
    7. Chihmao Hsieh, 2011. "Explicitly searching for useful inventions: dynamic relatedness and the costs of connecting versus synthesizing," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 86(2), pages 381-404, February.

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