Abstract
The economic literature on technical change has increasingly relied upon patent citation data to measure inter-personal knowledge flows. Many doubts exist about whether patent citations really reflect the designated inventors’ knowledge of both their technical fields, and of the other inventors and experts therein: citations, in fact, come mainly from the patent examiners, and possibly the patent applicant’s lawyers, rather than from inventors themselves. Unfortunately, most of the papers dedicated to discussing these interpretation issues deal with USPTO data, whose citation rules are quite exceptional if compared to those of other patent offices. In addition some confusion exists between the two issues of awareness (whether citing inventors actually knew of the cited patents) and existence of a knowledge flow (whether some information on the contents of the cited patents has however reached the, possibly unaware, citing inventor). Questionnaires addressed to inventors are severely affected by this confusion, and can hardly dispel the existing doubts. We then propose to apply social network analysis to derive maps of social relationships between inventors, and measures of social proximity between cited and citing patents. Logit regressions demonstrate that the probability of observing a citation is positively influenced by such proximity. In order to perform such regressions, however, a specific sampling scheme has to used, which we also illustrate and discuss.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Agrawal, A.K., Cockburn I.M., McHale J. (2003). Gone but not forgotten: labor flows, knowledge spillovers, and enduring social capital. NBER Working Paper 9950.
Akers, N. (1999). The European Patent System: an introduction for patent searchers, World Patent Information, 21, 135–163.
Akers, N. (2000). The referencing of prior art documents in European patents and applications, World Patent Information, 22, 309–315.
Almeida, P., Kogut, B. (1999). The localization of knowledge and the mobility of engineers in regional networks. Management Science, 45, 905–917.
Balconi, M., Breschi, S., Lissoni, F. (2004). Networks of inventors and the role of academia: an exploration of Italian patent data. Research Policy (forthcoming).
Breschi, S., Lissoni, F. (2001a). Knowledge spillovers and local innovation systems: A critical survey. Industrial and Corporate Change 10 (4), 975–1005.
Breschi, S., Lissoni, F. (2001b). Localised knowledge spillovers vs. innovative Milieux: knowledge tacitness” reconsidered. Papers in regional science 80 (3), 2001.
Breschi, S., Lissoni, F., Malerba F. (2003). STI-NET patent and patent citations database. Methodology and preliminary analyses. Mimeo.
Constant, E.W. (1984). Communities and hierarchies: Structure in the practice of science and technology. In R. Laudan (Ed.), The nature of technological knowledge. Dordrecht: D. Reindel Publishing, S. 27–46.
Cowan, R., David, P.A., Foray, D. (2000). The explicit economics of knowledge codification and tacitness. Industrial and Corporate Change 9, 211–253.
Griliches, Z. (1990). Patent statistics as economic indicators: A survey. Journal of Economic Literature, 28, 1661–1707.
Hall, B.H., Jaffe, A., Trajtenberg, M. (2000). Market value and patent citations: A first look. NBER Working Paper 7441.
Hall, B.H., Jaffe, A., Trajtenberg, M (2001). The NBER patent citations data file: lessons, insights and methodological tools. NBER Working Paper 8498. Republished in: Jaffe and Trajtenberg (2002).
Jaffe, A.B., Trajtenberg, M. (2002). Patents, citations, and innovations: A window on the knowledge economy. MIT Press.
Jaffe, A.B., Trajtenberg, M., Fogarty, M.S. (2000a). The meaning of patent citations: Report on the NBER/Case-Western reserve survey of patentees. NBER Working Paper 7631.
Jaffe, A.B., Trajtenberg, M., Fogarty, M.S. (2000b). Knowledge spillovers and patent citations: Evidence form a survey of inventors. American Economic Review, 90 (2), 215–218.
Jaffe, A.B., Trajtenberg, M., Henderson, R. (1993). Geographic localisation of knowledge spillovers as evidenced by patent citations. Quarterly Journal of Economics 108, 577–598.
Karki, M.M.S. (1997). Patent citation analysis: A policy analysis tool. World Patent Information, 19, 269–272.
King, G., Zeng, L. (2001). Explaining rare events in international relations. International Organization, 55 (3), 693–715.
Kortum, S., Lerner, J. (1998). Stronger protection or technological revolution: what is behind the recent surge in patenting? Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, 48, 247–304.
Laboranti, A. (2004). Il contributo delľUniversità di Pavia alle innovazioni tecnologiche, Degree dissertation, Università degli studi di Pavia, Faculty of Engineering.
Merton, R.K. (1961). Singletons and multiples in scientific discovery. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 105, 470–486.
Merton, R.K. (1977). The sociology of science: An episodic memoir. Southern Illinois University Press.
Merton, R.K. (1988). The Matthew effect in science, II: Cumulative advantage and the symbolism of intellectual property. ISIS, 79, 606–623.
Michel J., Bettels B. (2001). Patent citation analysis: A closer look at the basic input data from patent search reports. Scientometrics 51, 185–201.
Møen, J. (2000). Is mobility of technical personnel a source of R&D spillovers? NBER Working Paper 7834.
Murray, F. (2002). Innovation as co-evolution of scientific and technological networks: exploring tissue engineering. Research Policy 31, 1389–1403.
Newman, M.E.J. (2000). Who is the best connected scientists? A study of scientific co-authorship networks. SFI Working Paper 00-12-64, Santa Fe.
Newman, M.E.J. (2001). The structure of scientific collaboration networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 98, 404–409.
Ogburn, W.F., Thomas, D. (1922). Are inventions inevitable? A note on social evolution. Political Science Quartly 3, 83–98.
Pilkington, A., Dyerson, R., Tissier, O. (2002). The electric vehicle: patent data as indicators of technological development. World Patent Information 24, 5–12.
Sampat, B.N., Ziedonis, A. (2002). Cite-Seeing: patent citations and economic value of patents. Mimeo, http://www.vannevar.gatech.edu/paper.htm
Sforzi, F. (1997). I sistemi locali del lavoro in Italia. 1991, Istat, Argomenti n. 10, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Roma.
Singh, J. (2003). Inventor mobility and social networks as drivers of knowledge diffusion. Mimeo, Harvard Business School.
Sirilli, G. (1987). Patents and inventors: An empirical study. Research Policy 16, 157–74.
Song, J., Almeida, P., Wu, G. (2003). Learning-by-hiring: when is mobility more likely to facilitate knowledge transfer? Management Science 49, 351–365.
Sorenson, O. (2003). Social networks, informational complexity and industry concentration. Mimeo, UCLA.
Sorenson, O., Fleming, L. (2001). Science and the diffusion of knowledge. Mimeo, Harvard University.
Stolpe, M. (2002). Determinants of knowledge diffusion as evidenced in patent debates: the case of Liquid Crystal Display technology. Research Policy 31, 1181–1198.
Thompson, P. (2003). Patent citations and the geography of knowledge spillovers: what do patent examiners know? Mimeo, Carnegie Mellon University.
Thompson, P., Fox-Kean, M. (2003). Patent citations and the geography of knowledge spillovers: A reassessment. Mimeo, Carnegie Mellon University. Valente, T. (1990).
Wasserman, S., Faust, C. (1994). Social network analysis: methods and applications. Cambridge University Press.
Watts, D.J. (2003). Six degrees: the science of a connected age. W.W. Norton & Company
Zucker, L.G., Darby, M.R., Armstrong, J. (1998). Geographically localized knowledge: Spillovers or markets? Economic Inquiry 36, 65–86.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Breschi, S., Lissoni, F. (2004). Knowledge Networks from Patent Data. In: Moed, H.F., Glänzel, W., Schmoch, U. (eds) Handbook of Quantitative Science and Technology Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2755-9_29
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2755-9_29
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-2702-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-2755-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawHistory (R0)