IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ctc/serie5/dipe0016.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Robots, AI, and Related Technologies: A Mapping of the New Knowledge Base

Author

Listed:
  • Enrico Santarelli

    (Department of Economics, University of Bologna – Department of Economics and Management, University of Luxembourg)

  • Jacopo Staccioli

    (Dipartimento di Politica Economica, DISCE, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore – Institute of Economics, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa)

  • Marco Vivarelli

    (Dipartimento di Politica Economica, DISCE, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore – UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, The Netherlands – IZA, Bonn, Germany)

Abstract

Using the entire population of USPTO patent applications published between 2002 and 2019, and leveraging on both patent classification and semantic analysis, this papers aims to map the current knowledge base centred on robotics and AI technologies. These technologies will be investigated both as a whole and distinguishing core and related innovations, along a 4-level core-periphery architecture. Merging patent applications with the Orbis IP firm-level database will allow us to put forward a threefold analysis based on industry of activity, geographic location, and firm productivity. In a nutshell, results show that: (i) rather than representing a technological revolution, the new knowledge base is strictly linked to the previous technological paradigm; (ii) the new knowledge base is characterised by a considerable – but not impressively widespread – degree of pervasiveness; (iii) robotics and AI are strictly related, converging (particularly among the related technologies) and jointly shaping a new knowledge base that should be considered as a whole, rather than consisting of two separate GPTs; (iv) the U.S. technological leadership turns out to be confirmed.

Suggested Citation

  • Enrico Santarelli & Jacopo Staccioli & Marco Vivarelli, 2021. "Robots, AI, and Related Technologies: A Mapping of the New Knowledge Base," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0016, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie5:dipe0016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dipartimenti.unicatt.it/politica-economica-DIPE0016.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2021
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2021. "Back to the past: the historical roots of labor-saving automation," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(1), pages 27-57, March.
    2. Jovanovic, Boyan & Rousseau, Peter L., 2005. "General Purpose Technologies," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 18, pages 1181-1224, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Montobbio, Fabio & Staccioli, Jacopo & Virgillito, Maria Enrica & Vivarelli, Marco, 2022. "Robots and the origin of their labour-saving impact," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    2. Fabio Montobbio & Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito & Marco Vivarelli, 2021. "Labour-saving automation and occupational exposure: a text-similarity measure," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0021, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mark Knell & Simone Vannuccini, 2022. "Tools and concepts for understanding disruptive technological change after Schumpeter," Jena Economics Research Papers 2022-005, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    2. Enrico Santarelli & Jacopo Staccioli & Marco Vivarelli, 2023. "Automation and related technologies: a mapping of the new knowledge base," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 779-813, April.
    3. Yang, Chih-Hai, 2022. "How Artificial Intelligence Technology Affects Productivity and Employment: Firm-level Evidence from Taiwan," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(6).
    4. Kariem Soliman, 2021. "Are Industrial Robots a new GPT? A Panel Study of Nine European Countries with Capital and Quality-adjusted Industrial Robots as Drivers of Labour Productivity Growth," EIIW Discussion paper disbei307, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    5. Aghion, Philippe & Akcigit, Ufuk & Howitt, Peter, 2014. "What Do We Learn From Schumpeterian Growth Theory?," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 515-563, Elsevier.
    6. Ekaterina Prytkova, 2021. "ICT's Wide Web: a System-Level Analysis of ICT's Industrial Diffusion with Algorithmic Links," Jena Economics Research Papers 2021-005, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    7. Cirillo, Valeria & Fanti, Lucrezia & Mina, Andrea & Ricci, Andrea, 2023. "The adoption of digital technologies: Investment, skills, work organisation," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 89-105.
    8. Venturini, Francesco, 2022. "Intelligent technologies and productivity spillovers: Evidence from the Fourth Industrial Revolution," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 220-243.
    9. Klaus Ackermann & Simon D Angus & Paul A Raschky, 2017. "The Internet as Quantitative Social Science Platform: Insights from a Trillion Observations," Papers 1701.05632, arXiv.org.
    10. Thomas Philippon, 2015. "Has the US Finance Industry Become Less Efficient? On the Theory and Measurement of Financial Intermediation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(4), pages 1408-1438, April.
    11. Harald Edquist & Magnus Henrekson, 2006. "Technological Breakthroughs and Productivity Growth," Research in Economic History, in: Research in Economic History, pages 1-53, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    12. Björn Brey, 2021. "The Long-run Gains from the Early Adoption of Electricity," Working Papers ECARES 2021-23, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    13. Montobbio, Fabio & Staccioli, Jacopo & Virgillito, Maria Enrica & Vivarelli, Marco, 2022. "Robots and the origin of their labour-saving impact," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    14. Michel A. Habib & Ulrich Hege & Pierre Mella-Barral, 2013. "Entrepreneurial Spawning and Firm Characteristics," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(12), pages 2790-2804, December.
    15. Richard Dion & Robert Fay, 2008. "Understanding Productivity: A Review of Recent Technical Research," Discussion Papers 08-3, Bank of Canada.
    16. Fabio Pieri & Michela Vecchi & Francesco Venturini, 2017. "Modelling the joint impact of R and D and ICT on productivity: A frontier analysis approach," DEM Working Papers 2017/13, Department of Economics and Management.
    17. Chung, Jaiho & Hwang, Joon Ho, 2009. "Dynamics of General Purpose Technologies in an Open Economy," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 50(2), pages 87-98, December.
    18. Keiichi Kishi, 2015. "Dynamic analysis of wage inequality and creative destruction," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 1-23, May.
    19. UCHIDA Ichihiro & TAKEDA Yosuke & SHIRAI Daichi, 2012. "Technology and Capital Adjustment Costs: Micro evidence of automobile electronics in the auto-parts suppliers," Discussion papers 12001, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    20. Monica A. Altamirano & Cees P. van Beers, 2018. "Frugal Innovations in Technological and Institutional Infrastructure: Impact of Mobile Phone Technology on Productivity, Public Service Provision and Inclusiveness," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 30(1), pages 84-107, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Robotics; Artificial Intelligence; General Purpose Technology; Technological Paradigm; Industry 4.0; Patents full-text;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ctc:serie5:dipe0016. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Fabio Montobbio (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dscatit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.