A method for identifying hot patents and linking them to government-funded scientific research

TY - JOUR

T1 - A method for identifying hot patents and linking them to government-funded scientific research

AU - Thomas, Patrick

AU - Breitzman, Anthony

N1 - Funding Information: Thomas (2004) employed hot patent analysis to examine the impact that government scientific funding has upon the development of cutting-edge technologies. Specifically, this project examined the extent to which hot patents cite, as prior art, scientific papers that acknowledge government support. This research revealed that, out of all patents issued between 1995 and 1999, 1.9% became hot patents in 2001 and 2002. However, over 3% of the patents that cited a scientific paper funded by one of four government agencies (DOE, NSF, NASA and NIH) became hot patents. Hence, patents that cite a government-funded paper were over 50% more likely to become hot patents than patents in general. This finding suggests that government funding of science forms an important foundation for high-impact, hot technologies. Interestingly, patents that cite a paper funded by multiple agencies are even more likely to become hot patents. Over 6% of patents issued between 1995 and 1999 that cite a paper funded by at least three government agencies became hot patents in 2001 and 2002. Funding Information: 2. Patents that cite a paper funded by DOE. These are patents that build in some way upon scientific research funded by DOE.

PY - 2006/8

Y1 - 2006/8

N2 - This paper is designed to contribute to the innovation literature by describing a method for identifying important, high-impact technologies. To this end, this paper discusses a patent citation analysis technique designed to identify patents whose impact on recent technology developments is particularly strong. These patents are defined as hot patents. This paper also examines links between hot patents and scientific research funded by different government agencies. Our results indicate that patents that cite scientific papers funded by government agencies are more likely to become hot patents than patents that do not have such a citation link to publicly funded scientific research. Our results also reveal how hot patents can be used to demonstrate the geographical breadth of influence of an individual government agency's funding of science.

AB - This paper is designed to contribute to the innovation literature by describing a method for identifying important, high-impact technologies. To this end, this paper discusses a patent citation analysis technique designed to identify patents whose impact on recent technology developments is particularly strong. These patents are defined as hot patents. This paper also examines links between hot patents and scientific research funded by different government agencies. Our results indicate that patents that cite scientific papers funded by government agencies are more likely to become hot patents than patents that do not have such a citation link to publicly funded scientific research. Our results also reveal how hot patents can be used to demonstrate the geographical breadth of influence of an individual government agency's funding of science.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/33750571664

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/33750571664#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.3152/147154406781775986

DO - 10.3152/147154406781775986

M3 - Article

SN - 0958-2029

VL - 15

SP - 145

EP - 152

JO - Research Evaluation

JF - Research Evaluation

IS - 2

ER -