RIEB Discussion Paper Series No.2022-09

Title

Technological Competition among the Big Five in Patent Data: A Systematic and Scalable Approach Based on Web-Search Technology

Abstract

Despite the apparent rivalry among Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft, each of them is immensely successful, thereby raising the question: Who are their competitors? We investigate this phenomenon by systematically ascertaining the most likely competitors from a technological competitor retrieval system constructed by aggregating information on companies, individual inventors, and approximately 73 million patents on the Worldwide Patent Statistical Database. We introduce a novel technological competition analysis based on the results, revealing that technological competitions are not as intense as they appear. We extend the technological analysis scope to a scalable and systematic framework by employing web-search technology.

Keywords

Technological analysis; Data science; Patent; Techonological competition; Big Five

JEL Classification

O31, O39

Inquiries

Katsuyuki TANAKA
Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration(RIEB)
Center for Computational Social Science (CCSS)
Kobe University
Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe
657-8501 Japan
Phone: +81-78-803-7036
FAX: +81-78-803-7059

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