A Patent Analysis to Identify Emergent Topics and Convergence Fields: A Case Study of Chitosan

Worasak Klongthong, Veera Muangsin, Chupun Gowanit and Nongnuj Muangsin
Additional contact information
Worasak Klongthong: Technopreneurship and Innovation Management, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Veera Muangsin: Department of Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Chupun Gowanit: Technopreneurship and Innovation Management, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Nongnuj Muangsin: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-28

Abstract: Identifying emerging technology trends from patents helps to understand the status of the technology commercialization or utilization. It could provide research insights leading to advanced technological innovations that stimulate socially responsible research to address human dietary and medical needs. However, few studies have investigated emerging chitosan applications using patents. In this study, we report the application of a patent bibliometric predictive intelligence (PBPI) model to identify emergent topics and technology convergence related to chitosan applications from patents in the International Patent Classification system. Text mining was used to extract patterns from 5001 patents and each term was assigned an emergent score, following which we traced growth patterns, examined relationships between IPCs, emergent topics, and patents using correlation analysis and principal component analysis, and conducted matrix and cluster mapping analysis to understand industrial applications and explore patterns of technological convergence. Five major terms emerged in association with ascending and newly emergent topics over the last 13 years: “shelf life,” “antibacterial,” “good safety,” “absorbing water,” and “auxiliary materials.” These topics were closely linked with research in the biomedical and food production and preservation industries. A network analysis indicated that “antibacterial” terms exhibited the highest degree of convergence, followed by “shelf life.” These findings can inform strategies to determine new directions for chitosan research.

Keywords: chitosan; emerging technology; technological convergence; food industry; biomedical applications; patent analysis; bibliometric analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9077/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9077/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9077-:d:613827

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().