Mainstream Formation and Competitive Dynamics in the Computer Graphics Industry: Topic modeling analysis of US patents

This study conducts a quantitative analysis of the relationship between mainstream formation and competition in technological fields. The process of determining the dominant design is crucial in analyzing mainstream formation within specific technological fields, and numerous studies have explored this process. The quantitative analysis conducted in this study indicates that, during the process in which the dominant design is determined, the dominant category, a broader framework than the dominant design, is also established. In this study, we use topic modeling analysis to examine the relationship between the convergence of research and development (R&D) trends among organizations and the number of organizations publishing patents in the computer graphics processing systems industry. Specifically, the number of organizations publishing patents in the industry increased when the degree of convergence among the R&D trends of each organization was relatively low, whereas it decreased when the degree of convergence among R&D trends of each organization was relatively high. Further, the change in the degree of convergence occurred before the change in the number of organizations. These observations suggest that the formation of a mainstream within the industry, which is associated with the convergence of R&D tendencies of specific organizations, affects the competitive environment within the industry.