Knowledge flows from public science to industrial technologies

Lili Wang () and Zexia Li
Additional contact information
Zexia Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences

The Journal of Technology Transfer, 2021, vol. 46, issue 4, No 14, 1232-1255

Abstract: Abstract Scientific research has been acknowledged as an important knowledge resource for developing technologies. However, little is known about the heterogeneous nature of scientific knowledge and the associated contribution to technological advancement. Using nano technology as a case study, this paper investigates what types of scientific research can help improve the quality of technologies. This study uses backward and forward citation analysis, extracted from the Derwent World Patents Index. Non-patent citations from each patent are further connected with records indexed in Web of Science, and the forward citations for the cited articles are collected. On the one hand, our results confirm that there is an important contribution from science to technology. High-quality academic research has significantly contributed to the development of high-quality patents. On the other hand, this study also reveals the heterogeneous pattern of patents citing scientific publications, depending on the organizational type, country, and knowledge origin. Compared to those in the U.S., patents developed by Chinese inventors tend to reply on more recent science but with a narrower scientific scope.

Keywords: Knowledge transfer; Publications; Patents; Citations; Science-technology linkages; Nanotechnology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O31 O32 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10961-019-09738-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:kap:jtecht:v:46:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1007_s10961-019-09738-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... nt/journal/10961/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10961-019-09738-9

Access Statistics for this article

The Journal of Technology Transfer is currently edited by Albert N. Link, Donald S. Siegel, Barry Bozeman and Simon Mosey

More articles in The Journal of Technology Transfer from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().