Dependence among nations in invention of technology: Network analyses

摘要

Invention of technology is a tradition that has become institutionalized around the world. An invention is a creation that depends on earlier inventions, invention in a nation thus depends on inventions made in the same and other countries. This study focuses on foreign dependence in the creation of inventions, that is, the extent to which inventions in a nation depend on inventions created in other nations. The analysis focuses on attributes of nations related to foreign dependence as well as the constellation and properties of the complex system, or transnational network, of dependence. Foreign dependence is operationalized using patent citations, drawn from patents issued by the United States patent office from 1975 to 1991 and covering inventions from the whole world. Patent citations indicate the dependence of the new invention on previous inventions as well as revealing the national location of the inventors of both the new and the previous inventions. Tests corroborated the following hypotheses: (1) a nation's foreign dependence is inversely related to its inventiveness; (2) a nation's change in foreign dependence is inversely related to the change in its inventiveness; (3) the foreign dependence of the world is increasing; (4) there is a center---periphery hierarchy in the transnational network of dependence, with the United States as the most central nation; (5) in the transnational network of dependence the centrality of the United States has declined compared to the centrality of other nations, and the centrality of Japan has increased; (6) a nation's centrality correlates highly with its inventiveness; (7) the transnational network is differentiated in terms of seven structurally equivalent positions; (8) the centrality of the seven positions has changed, with the U.S. position declining and the Japanese position increasing; (9) the transnational network of dependence is segmented into regions or cliques of mutually dependent nations; (10) cohesive regions in the transnational network tend to coincide with geopolitical blocs; (11) in the transnational network, cohesion increased among Japan and the four Asian newly industrializing nations, while cohesion among the European Union nations was constant, and cohesion among East European nations decreased.