The dynamics of technological discontinuities : a patent citation network analysis of telecommunication switches Citation for published version (APA): Martinelli, A. (2010). The dynamics of technological discontinuities : a patent citation network analysis of telecommunication switches. Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. https://doi.org/10.6100/IR675978 DOI: 10.6100/IR675978 Document status and date: Published: 01/01/2010 Document Version: Publisher’s PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers) Please check the document version of this publication: • A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement: www.tue.nl/taverne Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at: [email protected] providing details and we will investigate your claim. Download date: 29. Sep. 2021 The dynamics of technological discontinuities: a patent citation network analysis of telecommunication switches Arianna Martinelli The Dynamics of Technological Discontinuities: a Patent Citation Network Analysis of Telecommunication Switches PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr.ir. C.J. van Duijn, voor een commissie aangewezen door het College voor Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 28 juni 2010 om 16.00 uur door Arianna Martinelli geboren te Milaan, Italië Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotor: prof.dr. B. Verspagen Copromotoren: dr. A. Nuvolari en dr. B.M. Sadowski The Dynamics of Technological Discontinuities: a Patent Citation Network Analysis of Telecom- munication Switches / by Arianna Martinelli - Eidhoven: Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, 2010. - Proefschrift.- A catalogue record is available from the Eindhoven University of Technology Library ISBN: 978-90-386-2285-9 Keywords: Technology Dynamics / Patent Citation Networks / Telecommunication Switches NUR: 741 Cover design: Norman Hera (http://www.herabros.de) Photos: US patent 3,581,016 Printed by: Druckerei Richter Pai Mei: [punches through a block of wood from three inches away] Since your arm now belongs to me, I want it strong. Can you do that? The Bride: I can, but not that close. Pai Mei: Then you can’t do it. What if your enemy is three inches in front of you, what do you do then? Curl into a ball? Or do you put your fist through him? (Quentin Tarantino, “Kill Bill Vol. 2”) Acknowledgement Writing this (last) bite of the thesis makes me realize I survived my “Omaha beach”, with all respect for those who were really there in 1944. This comparison started in autumn 2007, when, after my holiday in Normandy, my supervisor Alessandro Nuvolari suggested the similarity between the PhD and D-day. Retrospectively, I think it was one of the most clumsy attempts to cheer me up during one of my periods of PhD blues. However, he indeed succeeded. I am still wondering why this argument worked but I suspect it did because it spelled out what I refused to accept for a great part of this experience: the loneliness of research. This might sound a bit dramatic considering the amount of conferences, workshops, and seminars we attend in order to make everybody else aware of our ideas and doubts. But at the end of the day, research is a lonely path. In any case, the Ph-D-day metaphor brought up some questions: what is the role of encouraging colleagues? And of other Phd students? I am still wondering about the role of supervisors: are they the ones encouraging you from behind the firing line, or just the “family picture” to keep in the pocket and look at during the inevitable panic? I haven’t figured it out yet, and I am perfectly happy to keep my doubts. As regards supervision, I feel very lucky; not only did I have active supervisors, but I could also count on the help of many colleagues. I am truly indebted to Alessandro Nuvolari for his help and support, but also for his pushy attitude (Pai Mei docet). He was inspirational and a great source of encouragement. He patiently addressed my questions and doubts, and very generously shared his knowledge, from W. Churchill’s quotations to bad steam engine design. His thesis The making of the steam power technology was of great inspiration as a successful example of combining qualitative and quantitative research about artifacts and their technological development. Finally, not v being a historian myself, discussion with Alessandro allowed me to enlarge, if not my research interests, my general perspectives on long-term economic development. The support I received by Bart Verspagen was less continuous but no less important and useful. I really appreciate Bart’s challenges, research rigor, and directness in addressing the “bad and the good” of my thesis. Furthermore, he seemed to know exactly when I needed to be reassured about “being on the right track”. I cannot imagine what a PhD student could ask more of his promoter. Finally, I would like to thank Bert Sadowski and the members of the “Small Committee” for providing useful insights and comments. Even if they were not officially involved in my PhD, a special mention goes to some other people working at the (former) T&B group. First of all, I would like to thank Rudi Bekkers for sharing not only his immense knowledge on telecommunication switches but also his (probably even larger) music library. It is not the time for blame, but it is Rudi’s fault if I felt in love with telecommunication switches, and after opening the Pandora’s box he was very good in keeping up the “engineering mentoring”. He got me a soldering iron and his help was fundamental for catching up on the engineering background. Finally, he read and reviewed several drafts of the chapters providing very useful comments. It was also a great pleasure to share several breaks with Önder Nomaler who sometimes scared me with extremely odd ideas... some of which are now incorporated in the thesis after recognizing they were indeed very good ones (I still remember the first time we discussed “the genetic approach to patents”). Önder was also extremely helpful in selecting the title of this thesis. If you do not like it, that is my responsibility, as his actual suggestion was: Networked Learning of Technology for Make Benefit Glorious Notion of Cumulativeness. In the years at Tu/e I have shared the office with very patient Dutch colleagues; they did not seem too bothered by my Mum’s frequent phone calls. Both Bas and Sjoerd helped me with the daily troubles of being a foreigner and my Dutch integration process. In particular, observing Sjoerd I learnt how to prepare a good sandwich with brown bread, Becel, and chocolate hagelslag. Finally, I would like to thank Letty Calame for her help in sorting out some bureaucracy during the PhD, for the cutest iPhone sleeve I have ever had, and for being such nice company at Scala. Over time, many more people made T&B a pleasant place to work. I am sure I am forgetting someone, but I would like to thank: Isabel, Alberto, Irene, Effie, Michiel, Andrew, Jojo, Lili, Ted, Ies, Marianne, Saskia, Saurabh, and Wim. I have lost count of the lunches and beers we had together, but each of them was a great pleasure. Beyond T&B, it is difficult to keep track of the “invisible college” that contributed directly and indirectly to this work. In general, I would like to thank all the participants in the ESSID Summer School 2005, the DIMETIC sessions in 2006, and the DIME conferences/workshops I attended over the years. In particular, Daniel Ljunberg was always very supportive. He not only read and commented several drafts of papers, notes, and chapters, but also always reassured me that I really could make it. Since more than one year ago, I moved from Tu/e to Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. I feel very lucky to work in such a dynamic and enthusiastic place. It is difficult to express how much I feel indebted to Marco Guerzoni for the good care he took of me in the last part of the PhD. It is great fun, after years, to be able to share the house with such a good old friend. I found his scientific attitude and painstaking theorizing about everything very inspiring. Finally, I am not totally sure our “regression towards the mean” is working, however I am trying hard to be more optimistic (and to forget about Arianna-type problems) and to overcome my annoyance for his good mood in the morning.