Patents for evidence-based decision-making and smart specialisation

The article compares and contrasts different sets of patent-based indicators, traditionally used to assess countries’ technological capacities and specialisation. By doing that, we seek to determine how a chosen metric might affect the results of such an analysis, sometimes causing misleading conclusions on technological profiling. This goal is achieved with the statistical analysis of patent activity of the top-10 patenting economies. Findings indicate the need for policymakers to employ a complex of patent-related indicators when formulating technological specialisation strategies. Results also offer a taxonomy of technological capacities of the leading countries, which can further help understanding their current status and prospects for future progress. Thus, the paper might be of interest for researchers and analysts, which seek to offer methodological approaches and models to assess technological development of economies, as well as for policymakers governing the process.