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The Population Ecology of Technology: An Empirical Study of US Biotechnology Patents from 1976 to 2003

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  • Ad van den Oord
  • Arjen van Witteloostuijn

Abstract

A detailed understanding of technological change as an evolutionary process is currently not well understood. To increase our understanding, we build upon theory from organizational ecology to develop a model of endogenous technological growth and determine to what extent the pattern of technological growth can be attributed to the structural or systemic characteristics of the technology itself. Through an empirical investigation of patent data in the biotechnology industry from 1976 to 2003, we find that a technology’s internal (i.e., density and diversity) ecological characteristics have a positive effect on its growth rate. The niche’s external characteristics of crowding and status have a negative effect on its growth rate. Hence, applying theory from organizational ecology increases our understanding of technological change as an evolutionary process. We discuss the implications of our findings for the study of technological growth and evolution, and suggest avenues for further research.

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  • Ad van den Oord & Arjen van Witteloostuijn, 2017. "The Population Ecology of Technology: An Empirical Study of US Biotechnology Patents from 1976 to 2003," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0169961
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169961
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    Cited by:

    1. Ad van den Oord & Arjen van Witteloostuijn, 2018. "A multi-level model of emerging technology: An empirical study of the evolution of biotechnology from 1976 to 2003," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-27, May.
    2. Candiani, Juan Antonio & Gilsing, Victor & Mastrogiorgio, Mariano, 2022. "Technological entry in new niches: Diversity, crowding and generalism," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).

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