Exploring the quality of environmental technology in Europe: evidence from patent citations

In this paper we carry out an empirical analysis to address some questions concerning the production and quality of technology in environmental sectors. The methodology involves patents as a measure of the generation of new knowledge, and patent citations as a proxy for the quality of a technological invention. The sample contains more than 12,000 environmental European patents from firms and government institutions from 1998 to 2004. From our econometric analysis, we found that environmental patents applied by individual inventors present on average less quality that those applied by institutional inventors. The size of family patent is relevant to explain forward patent citation. Furthermore, patents coming from abroad (out of Europe), in particular with US and Japan priority, are more cited on average than local patents (with European priority). Lastly, the specialization in environmental fields of a patent plays a negative role in determining the frequency of forward citation.     

Exploring the patterns of international technology diffusion in AI from the perspective of patent citations

Scientometrics - This paper presents the findings from a thorough analysis of international technology diffusion (ITD) in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. We construct a novel framework...     

Exploring the web visibility of world-class universities

With the rapid development of the Internet, there is a need for evaluating the public visibility of universities on the Internet (i.e., web visibility) in terms of its implications for university management, planning, and governance. The data were collected in December 2010 by using Yahoo, one of the most widely used search engines. Specifically, we gathered “Single Mention” data to measure the number of times that each university was mentioned on websites. In addition, we collected network-based data on Single Mentions. We obtained another data set based on the 2010 world university rankings by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). We employed several analytical methods for the analysis, including correlations, nonparametric tests (e.g., the Mann–Whitney test), and multidimensional scaling (MDS). The significant positive correlation between university rankings and web visibility suggests that indicators of web visibility can function as a proxy measure of conventional university rankings. Another distinctive implication can be drawn from the pattern of a disparity in web visibility stemming from the linguistic divide, that is, universities in English-speaking countries dominated the central positions in various network structures of web visibility, whereas those in non-English-speaking countries were located in the periphery of these structures. In this regard, further research linking web visibility to university management, planning, and governance is needed.     

The idiosyncrasy and dynamism of technological innovation across industries: patent citation analysis

In general, the structural and behavioral patterns of technological innovation are idiosyncratic across industrial sectors and dynamic over time. Yet, despite voluminous amounts of previous research, patterns of innovation are hard to standardize or theorize. The objectives of this article are two-fold. One is to investigate distinctive and changing patterns of technological innovation across industries and observe dynamic trends over time. The other is to identify patterns of relationships among industries and examine the roles of respective industries. To this end, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) patent database was used and patent citation analysis applied. The idiosyncratic differences among industrial sectors are highlighted, especially between conventional manufacturing sectors and science-based sectors. We also found changing trends in technological knowledge flows across industries.     

In which regions do universities patent and publish more?

The main objective of this contribution is to test whether university patents share common determinants with university publications at regional level. We build some university production functions with 1,519 patents and 180,239 publications for the 17 Spanish autonomous regions (NUTS-2) in a time span of 14 years (1988–2001). We use econometric models to estimate their determinants. Our results suggest that there is little scope for regional policy to compensate the production of patents vs. publications through different university or joint research institutional settings. On the contrary, while patents are more reactive to expenditure on R&D, publications are more responsive to the number of researchers, so the sustained promotion of both will make it compatible for regions their joint production. However, standing out in the generation of both outputs requires costly investment in various inputs.     

Structure and research performance of Spanish universities

The aim of this paper is to describe Spanish universities by means of structural, input and output indicators, to explore the relationship between those indicators and to analyse university behaviour in different dimensions. Seniority of the universities and environmental conditions are taken into account, together with input and output indicators, as well as others related to the networks and links established. Our results will contribute to the knowledge of the university research system in Spain, producing data that could be useful for research management at the institutional, regional and national level.     

基于专利分析的碳纤维自行车行业发展研究

基于Innography专利分析平台研究了世界范围内的碳纤维自行车技术的发展趋势,全面了解目前碳纤维自行车领域技术创新情况.研究表明:2011年后,碳纤维复合材料在自行车领域中的应用呈现迅速发展的好势头;研究较多的国家是中国(包括台湾地区)、日本和美国等;核心专利主要来自美国、意大利、中国及中国台湾;意大利的坎培诺洛是碳纤维材料在自行车应用领域中拥有核心专利最多、技术综合能力最强的公司;目前碳纤维技术主要应用于自行车车架、轮辋、前叉及主体等.     

Indicator system for managing science,technology and innovation in universities

Scientometrics - The formulation of standardized measurement indicators of science, technology and innovation at the international, regional and institutional level remains a continuing need....     

Career advancement and scientific performance in universities

Many governments have placed priority on excellence in higher education as part of their policy agendas. Processes for recruitment and career advancement in universities thus have a critical role. The efficiency of faculty selection processes can be evaluated by comparing the subsequent performance of competition winners against that of the losers and the pre-existing staff of equal academic rank. Our study presents an empirical analysis concerning the recruitment procedures for associate professors in the Italian university system. The results of a bibliometric analysis of the hard science areas reveal that new associate professors are on average more productive than the incumbents. However a number of crucial concerns emerge, in particular concerning occurrence of non-winner candidates that are more productive than the winners over the subsequent triennium, and cases of winners that are completely unproductive. Beyond the implications for the Italian case, the analysis offers considerations for all decision-makers regarding the ex post evaluation of the efficiency of the recruitment process and the desirability of providing selection committees with bibliometric indicators in support of evaluation (i.e. informed peer review).     

Criteria for performance profiles of departments and universities

In this paper a proposal is presented on how to meet the increasing demands of the public in Germany for qualified and comparable information about the performance of German universities. Instead of a one-dimensional quantifying ranking-system, a report-system for departments and the university as a whole is presented which contains a list of qualifying statements and comments which are necessary in order to render the quantitative data and ratios comprehensible.     

Knowledge creation and diffusion of Taiwan's universities: Knowledge trajectory from patent data

The university sector, receiving government funding to perform basic research, is designated to produce and widely disseminate innovative knowledge to industry in many countries, particularly in latecomer countries such as Taiwan. Knowledge flows occurring in university research can be traced with patent data. This exploratory study aims to investigate knowledge creation and diffusion of Taiwan's universities by using university patents as the proxy. The empirical analysis finds a dramatic increase in the number of university patents after 2002. Some implications are derived based on this empirical analysis. Moreover, the cross-national citation behavior of university research would be worthwhile for conceptualizing transnational innovation networks in future studies.     

Exploring pathways of regional technological development in China through patent analysis

Recently, China has experienced a surge in patenting and become the leading applicant nation worldwide. The technological substance of this growth, however, has become increasingly doubted as China's governments continue to promote patenting as a target per se. Against this background, the paper explores the structure of Chinese patenting from a regional perspective. Firstly, it analyses the technological profile, public component and outward orientation of specific provinces' technological ecosystems. Secondly, it connects these specific profiles to regions' recent growth in patent applications. Concluding, it finds that there are indications of both politically induced and technologically substantial growth in applications.     

Empirical analysis of maintenance performance measurement in Belgian industries

Performance measurement is a fundamental instrument of management. For maintenance management, one of the key issues is to ensure the maintenance activities planned and executed have given the expected results. This can be facilitated by effective use of rigorously defined key performance indicators (KPI) that are able to measure important aspects of maintenance function. In this paper, an industrial survey was carried out to explore the use of performance measurement in maintenance management. Based on survey responses, analyses were performed on popularly used KPI, how these KPI are sourced or chosen; the influence of manufacturing environment and maintenance objectives on KPI choice and effective use of these KPI in decision support and performance improvement. It was found that maintenance performance measurement is dominated by lagging indicators (equipment, maintenance cost and safety performance). There is lesser use of leading (maintenance work process) indicators. The results showed no direct correlations between the maintenance objectives pursued and the KPI used. Further analysis showed that only a minority of the companies have a high percentage of decisions and changes triggered by KPI use and only a few are satisfied with their performance measurement systems. Correlation analysis showed a strong positive linear relationship between degree of satisfaction and process changes/decisions triggered by KPI use, with the least satisfied people having the least decisions and changes triggered by KPI use. The results indicate some ineffectiveness of performance measurement systems in driving performance improvement in industries.     

Key performance indicators for assessing inherent energy performance of machine tools in industries

Increasing attention has been paid toward enhancing energy retrofitting in machine tools due to its enormous energy consumption and high energy-saving potential. Developing energy-efficient machine tools and selecting appropriate machine tools in procurement processes are two effective approaches for saving energy. However, existing studies on the evaluation of energy performance to support the design and selection of machine tools, rarely consider various process controls, which have considerable impact on the energy performance of machine tools. This study proposes a group of key performance indicators, which are referred to as ‘inherent energy performance’ (IEP) indexes, to support the design and selection of machine tools with the consideration of the main process controls in the usage phase and their interaction. A systematic method is introduced to acquire the IEP indexes. The method involves a simplified measurement of basic data and the calculation of the indexes from the data. A case study indicates that the proposed indicators succeed in obtaining the energy demand information of almost all machine system activities and can be used to provide basic data for developing energy information labels, selecting matching machine tools, and designing energy-efficient machine tools.     

溶液式空气调湿技术中国专利分析

本文针对溶液式空气调湿技术的中国专利,从年度授权量,申请人类型,系统设计,结构部件以及技术应用等方面进行剖析,旨在把握溶液式空气调湿技术的研究方向与发展趋势。分析表明:溶液式空气调湿技术正朝着能源驱动多样化,多能源互补利用,空气预处理与热回收,除湿器/再生器改进以及技术应用等几个方向发展,系统匹配、系统控制等应用关键技术将成为溶液式空气调湿技术未来发展的重要方向。     

机房空调专利新技术

机房空调在我国近几年来的发展风生水起,机房空调市场也呈现越来越热的态势。多需求的发展必然离不开技术研发的跟进,本文将就机房空调领域近年来的专利新技术做一展示,以便于各界人士对该领域技术有所了解。     

Effects of patent policy on innovation outputs and commercialization: evidence from universities in China

As the important source of scientific and technological innovation in China, the improvement of productivity from the patent commercialization in universities and research institutes is of great significance to the promotion of China’s sustainable economic development. Despite the quantity of patent applications from universities has increased dramatically in recent years, the rate of patent commercialization is somewhat lower than we expect. The purpose of our study is to examine whether the incentive patent policy has effectively enhanced the patent outputs and commercialization of universities in China. We determine the specific patent policy based on the information collection and measure the specific effect of the patent policy by using the data of the 64 universities that were directly under the Ministry of Education from 2009 to 2015. As a result, we find that although the policy has increased a university’s patent output, it does not encourage the patent’s commercialization. This is because to a certain extent, the policy has a negative impact on the enthusiasm of the university patent commercialization. Therefore, we argue that patent policies focusing on the quantity in the short term can improve the innovation output but will have a negative impact on university’s sustainable development in the long run.     

The patent system and the transfer of technology to developing nations

This paper examines the patent system as a source of technological information and its role in the transfer of technology to developing nations. Included are the activities of the United Nations and its Specialized Agencies in the transfer of technology from developed nations to developing nations. It also examines the successes and obstacles in the transfer of technology.     

Exploring the validity of patent applications as an indicator of Chinese competitiveness and market structure

An increasing number of studies are using either worldwide Chinese patent applications as an indicator to assess the country’s international competitiveness or applications at the Chinese SIPO as an indicator of the internal structure of innovative activities on its domestic market. Whenever such macro level studies are presented, however, many practitioners tend to express disbelief regarding the validity of patent indicators in this emerging market, where IPR protection is perceived to play a role that differs strongly from that in other economies. This paper, therefore, compares the structure of both patent applications at the Chinese national office and global applications by Chinese inventors. Moreover, it contrasts Chinese application activities with those of other nations. On this basis, it analyses if there is evidence of different underlying motivations for and logics of application that would substantiate such doubts. It concludes that, following WTO accession, the Chinese technology market is finding its specific equilibrium but retains certain persistent particularities. Global filings of Chinese applicants, in contrast, remain biased towards the few major firms that can compete at the world markets for technology.