Knowledge Flows, Patent Citations and the Impact of Science on Technology
Abstract
Technological innovation depends on knowledge developed by scientific research. The number of citations made in patents to the scientific literature has been suggested as an indicator of this process of transfer of knowledge from science to technology. We provide an intersectoral insight into this indicator, by breaking down patent citations into a sector-to-sector matrix of knowledge flows. We then propose a method to analyze this matrix and construct various indicators of science intensity of sectors, and the pervasiveness of knowledge flows. Our results indicate that the traditional measure of the number of citations to science literature per patent captures important aspects of intersectoral knowledge flows, but that other aspects are not captured. In particular, we show that high science intensity implies that sectors are net suppliers of knowledge in the economic sector, but that science intensity does not say much about pervasiveness of either knowledge use or knowledge supply by sectors. We argue that these results are related to the specific and specialized nature of knowledge.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Taylor and Francis Journals in its journal Economic Systems Research.
Volume (Year): 20 (2008)
Issue (Month): 4 ()
Pages: 339-366
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Handle: RePEc:taf:ecsysr:v:20:y:2008:i:4:p:339-366
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Related research
Keywords: Knowledge input-output analysis; knowledge flow matrices; science-to-technology transfer;Other versions of this item:
- Verspagen, Bart & Nomaler, Onder, 2007. "Knowledge Flows, Patent Citations and the Impact of Science on Technology," UNU-MERIT Working Paper Series 022, United Nations University, Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology.
- D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search, Learning, and Information
- C67 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Input-Output Models
- O33 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change; Research and Development; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Suma Athreye & Martha Prevezer, 2008. "R&D offshoring and the domestic science base in India and China," Working Papers 26, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
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