City-level sequential patent database for innovation trajectories in the Global South

Innovation research frequently relies on patent data to study technological change, yet empirical coverage of cities in the Global South remains limited. Sequence analysis has gained increasing attention as a method for analysing categorical trajectories in social sciences, but its application to regional innovation studies is constrained by the lack of sequence-ready urban datasets. Moreover, integration of sequence analysis with network analysis is underexplored, despite its potential to jointly capture relational structures and trajectory patterns in innovation processes. This paper introduces a database of sequential patent data for the innovation trajectories of 4,125 Global South cities. Derived from existing geocoded patent data, the database includes general and technology-specific datasets (computing, environmental technology, and medicine), each available in sequence, network, sequence–network, and panel formats. Spanning from 1980 to 2014 and covering cities from seven countries (Brazil, Chile, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Turkey), the database supports analyses of innovation dynamics and helps increase the representation of Global South cities in economic geography, development studies and innovation research.