Features of Sustainability-Oriented Innovations: A Content Analysis of Patent Abstracts

Andrea Celone (), Antonello Cammarano, Mauro Caputo and Francesca Michelino
Additional contact information
Andrea Celone: Department of Enterprise Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Antonello Cammarano: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
Mauro Caputo: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
Francesca Michelino: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-16

Abstract: This article aims to identify the features of sustainability-oriented innovation starting from the content analysis of patent abstracts. An automatic tool was developed capable of finding the keywords, or groups of keywords, related to the 169 targets of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Once the patents deemed useful for pursuing SDGs were selected through the tool, they were analyzed to obtain information on their features in terms of breadth, scope, novelty, openness, prior art and scientific base. Among the most significant results, it is found that a larger number of applicants, suggesting the adoption of “open innovation” strategies, contributes to sustainability orientation. Moreover, patent originality contributes to the probability of pursuing sustainable objectives, especially related to environmental issues. On the contrary, claims are inversely correlated with the attitude to pursue SDGs, i.e., the larger number of areas in which a patent claims to intervene, the lower the probability that such innovation is sustainable. The results obtained by adopting a quantitative approach are in line with suggestions proposed by the literature and, so far, only supported by logical arguments or case studies. The potential of the tool developed, applied to the field of innovation and sustainability, is demonstrated as significant.

Keywords: sustainable development goals; SDG innovation; patent; content analysis; text analysis; sustainable development; sustainable innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/23/15492/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/23/15492/ (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:14:y:2022:i:23:p:15492-:d:979983

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 ().