Patent-based semantic measurement of one-way and two-way technology convergence: The case of ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs)

摘要

Companies need to identify technology convergence in order to get early warning signals to detect new risks and opportunities. The purpose of this paper is to provide a novel method for identifying different movement patterns of technology convergence by means of a semantic analysis approach using patent data. We illustrate this method on the basis of four distinct application technologies of ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs). Developing semantic anchor points for these four application technologies and calculating semantic similarity values for all pairs of patents and anchor points enables the identification of and separation between one-way and two-way technology convergence by means of statistical analysis.By comparing our results with earlier methods, we demonstrate that this approach leads to higher accuracy. Moreover, while earlier methods focus on technology convergence or do not consider different movement patterns of technology convergence, our method enables a differentiation between those artefacts. Furthermore, it supports the analysis of technological dynamics at an early stage of emergence. Applying the method, companies may recognize opportunities for new products, markets, and business models more accurately. From a governance perspective, it may help policy makers in choosing adequate measures to support the transition of technologies and industry sectors.