Measuring China's new energy vehicle patents: A social network analysis approach

Huaping Sun, Yong Geng, Lingxiang Hu, Longyu Shi and Tong Xu

Energy, 2018, vol. 153, issue C, 685-693

Abstract: Due to increasing concerns on climate change, air pollution, and associated public health, China's new-energy-vehicle (NEV) industry has received great support and experienced rapid development. Many patents have been approved and applied in this field to support its rapid development. However, few studies investigated the evolution of these patents. Under such a background, we measure China's NEV-related patents by using a social network analysis approach. The top 38 organizations with the most NEV-related patents were chosen as the study targets. Patent numbers, technological innovation and development, and the geographical distribution of patents were examined. The cooperation network of NEV-related patents was also investigated, including its features and performance during different stages of the NEV growth. The results show that China's NEV-patents cooperation network has evolved smoothly with a growing network density, stable structure, and more cohesive subgroups. Policy recommendations were raised by considering the Chinese realities, such as the encouragement of cooperation, the creation of NEV-related patents pools, and the roles of various stakeholders.

Keywords: New energy vehicles; Patent cooperation; Social network analysis; China; Governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:153:y:2018:i:c:p:685-693

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.04.077

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