RIEB Discussion Paper Series No.2021-06

Title

Measuring Technological Competition among Big Five Using Patent Data: A Systematic and Scalable Approach Based on Information Retrieval Technology

Abstract

This paper introduces a method for developing a systematic and scalable technological analysis framework based on information retrieval technology. We construct a technology information retrieval system by aggregating all information on patents (about a 100 million), and companies and individual inventors in Worldwide Patent Statistical Database (PATSTAT). Furthermore, we introduce a large-scale, systematic technological competition analysis as the framework enables a novel approach to conduct such analysis by searching technologically similar companies and individual inventors from the constructed information retrieval system. An analysis of the technological competition around the information technology giants, such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft, surprisingly, shows that technological conflicts are not as strong as they appear to be.

Keywords

Technological analysis; Data science; Patent

JEL Classification

O31, O39

Inquiries

Katsuyuki TANAKA
Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration(RIEB)
Center for Computational Social Science (CCSS)
Kobe University

Takashi KAMIHIGASHI
Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration(RIEB)
Center for Computational Social Science (CCSS)
Kobe University