Mapping the Global Influence of Published Research on Industry and Innovation
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PATENTS OPEN Mapping the global influence of published research on industry and innovation Osmat A Jefferson1,3, Adam Jaffe1,2, Doug Ashton3, Ben Warren3, Deniz Koellhofer3, Uwe Dulleck1,4,5, Aaron Ballagh4, John Moe6, Michael DiCuccio6, Karl Ward7, Geoff Bilder7, Kevin Dolby8 & Richard A Jefferson1,3 Measuring citations to scholarly works in the global patent literature enables assessment of the influence of published research on invention, industry and enterprise, at the individual and institutional level. ublic research is critical to the economy or technology fields of use, may expose and led to many products, without being them- Pand to society. However, tangible eco- highlight institutional strength and practices, selves patented or monetized by the authors’ nomic and social impact occurs only when and guide future partnerships. institutions. research outputs are combined, used and Few, if any, products in the marketplace reused with other elements and capabilities, to Linking the scientific and patent are produced solely by public research insti- deliver a product, practice or service. Assessing literatures tutions, and while spinouts may contribute the context and influence of scholarship dur- Public investment in science and technology some inventions, almost all products and ser- ing the dynamic process of innovation rather is increasingly expected to demonstrate social vices with social and economic impact require than measuring ex post impact, may improve and economic benefits1–4. Much effort has an innovation system9 and participation by performance. With this aim, we have integrated been focused on developing metrics, data- diverse actors, to assemble complemen- and interconnected scholarly citations with bases and methodologies for identifying and tary capabilities with diverse incentives and global patent literature and created new tools quantifying impacts of past investments and norms. Aligning these incentives, minimiz- to link the scholarly literature with the patent actions3–5. Understanding the connections ing risk, decreasing transaction costs between literature. The resulting tools we present here between desired outcomes and research con- these actors and motivating them in common enable diverse stakeholders to freely evaluate ducted many years earlier will at best provide pursuit of product development is thought to the influence published research has on the signposts for current public policy or to help be the fundamental driver behind the evolu- generation and potential use of inventions evaluate past policy. But in rapidly evolving tion of companies, as articulated by Coase’s as reflected by the patent system. We outline and complex innovative environments, this “The Nature of the Firm”10. Optimum choices an evolving toolkit, Lens Influence Mapping, ex post assessment provides limited guidance of persistent partnerships in product develop- that allows assessment of individual schol- as to how to improve performance. We need ment will determine the effectiveness of any arly works and aggregated outputs of authors tools that provide guidance throughout the attempt to use science and technology as criti- for influence on industry and enterprise, as trajectory of innovation that can increase the cal components in innovation. For outcome- measured by citations within patents. This likelihood of impact in the future. oriented philanthropy or for public funding performance measure, applied at many levels The term ‘impact’ implies causation. that seeks a deliverable product to improve and normalized by either research disciplines Research findings can strongly influence or the public good (e.g., a vaccine), these con- enable the development of a product or service siderations should be paramount and should with economic value, but a particular piece of drive decisions. Regrettably, for much public 1 © 2018 Nature America, Inc., part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved. All rights part Nature. of Springer Inc., America, Nature © 2018 Queensland University of Technology scholarship rarely ‘causes’ the delivery of such investment, they are not paramount. (QUT), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. products or services. The concept of influence, Modern innovation—the marketplace 2Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, rather than impact per se, reveals one-to-many introduction of a new product or practice11— Wellington, New Zealand. 3Cambia, Canberra, relationships or many-to-many relationships, requires the aggregation of scientific and Australia .4ANU, Research Services Division, and surfaces opportunities to alter decisions inventive inputs with other components, such Canberra, Australia. 5CESifo Ludwig- and partnerships dynamically to enhance as intellectual property (IP) rights, regulatory Maximilians-Universität, Center for Economic uptake of the scholarship. compliance, and manufacturing or marketing Studies, Munich, Germany. 6National Library For instance, contributions such as DNA capabilities12, among many others. Can we of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, and protein sequencing methods by Fred learn from this evolution of company behav- Bethesda, Maryland, USA. 7Crossref Oxfordw Sanger6, monoclonal antibodies by Kohler and ior to generalize interventions that make all Centre for Innovation, New Road, Oxford, Milstein7, or BLAST algorithms by Lipman, innovation more effective and efficient, espe- United Kingdom. 8Medical Research Council, Altschul et al.8, have influenced and inspired cially that for good public outcomes? London, United Kingdom. tens of thousands of scholarly works and Here, we offer new open tools, including a e-mail: [email protected] similar numbers of patented inventions that new application, PatCite, for any party, not only NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY VOLUME 36 NUMBER 1 JANUARY 2018 31 PATENTS a 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 SIPO 0.3 EPO WIPO strings/total families 0.2 USPTO 0.1 Patent families_any with citation 0.0 Optics Biotechnology Machine tools Pharmaceuticals SemiconductorsFood chemistry Civil engineering Medical technology Telecommunications Materials, metallurgy OrganicDigital ne chemistry communicationComputer technology Chemical engineering Audio-visual technology Basic materials chemistry Environmental technology Engines, pumps, turbines IT methods for management Textile and paper machines Analysis of biological materials Basic communication processes Micro-structural and nano-technology Macromolecular chemistry, polymers Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy Technology sectors based on WIPO IPC concordance table b c # unique DOI matches across patent 8 6 Pharmaceuticals families (note: redundancy between families maintained) 7 Biotechnology # uniquePMID matches across patent families (note: redundancy between 5 6 families maintained) Computer technology # unique orig citations across patent 5 Organic fine chemistry families (note: redundancy between 4 families maintained) 4 Digital communication (millions) 3 3 Civil engineering 2 2 1 families_any (millions) Number of NPL citations (orig/PMID/DOI) 0 1 Optics Biotechnology 0 Pharmaceuticals Semiconductors Food chemistry Civil engineering Medical technology patent Number of unique original citation strings across Telecommunications Materials, metallurgy Pre 1975 1975–1984 1985–1994 1995–2004 Post 2004 OrganicComputer ne chemistry technology Digital communicationChemical engineering Audio-visual technology Basic materials chemistry EnvironmentalEngines, technology pumps, turbines IT methods forTextile management and paper machines Analysis of biological materials Year Basic communication processes Macromolecular chemistry,Micro-structural polymers and nano-technology Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy Technology sectors based on WIPO IPC concordance table Figure 1 Frequency of inventions (simple patent families) with NPL citations. (a) Average of patent families with NPL citations per technology sector at the top four patent authorities: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), European Patent Office (EPO), and Chinese Patent Office (SIPO). (b) Number of NPL citations per technology sector. (c) Unique NPL citations over ten-year intervals based on publication date in six illustrative IPC-defined technology sectors. Citation redundancy within simple patent families was removed. to find current and past influences of scientific later rank institutional influence. The metric Patents, prior art and scholarly citations results on patent-based inventions, but also to reflects a citation intensity measure of the pat- The patent system provides a lens into the map linkages that can guide their decision- ents citing third parties, weighted by the size interfaces between knowledge and inven- © 2018 Nature America, Inc., part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved. All rights part Nature. of Springer Inc., America, Nature © 2018 making processes. The resulting interactive and of patent family over total resolved articles. tion and invention and innovation. A patent dynamic maps show which scientific results, Although the metric can be applied at indi- can be granted for a new, non-obvious and which scientists, and potentially, which institu- vidual, institutional, regional and country useful invention, which has been adequately tions have influence over a subset of economic levels, and versioned as a standard or normal- described to enable others to reproduce it. activity. We demonstrate how more granular ized measure to account for data variances, The invention