The Effect of Proximity on Technology Innovation Strat-egy:A Perspective from Knowledge Spillovers in Patent Citation Network

摘要

This paper explore the relationships between proximity and innovative strategy using patent citation data of 1140 patents granted to Chinese assignees by USTPO during 1985-2002. We find that inventors have short geography distance do not give rise to significant contribution to the increase of knowledge spillover. However, social proximity plays a very important role during this process. Moreover, we get proof from our data that there is a strong correlate between social closeness and innovative motivation. We also find that there are many potential paths can be used by unrelated inventors to connect with core actors in patent citation network.