专利发明人员兴趣转移模式研究

Discovering Interest Transition Patterns of Technological Inventors

研究方向的选择与转变是专利发明人员在发明创造生涯中都要面对的重要问题。然而,目前针对发明人员群体兴趣转移模式的实证研究却并不多见。本文基于1976~2015美国专利商标局(USPTO)约591万个专利数据,获得了技术领域研究人员的专利所属类别信息,并度量了这些发明人员的兴趣转移轨迹。分析结果显示,专利发明人兴趣转移模式表现为:高产出的专利发明人员兴趣转移的跨度小,但停留在本领域的人数占比低;而低产出的发明人兴趣转移的范围更广,停留在原来研究领域的人数占比反而高。本文研究结果有助于加深对从事科技领域发明人群体行为模式的了解,也对制定相关科技政策,完善科技管理有参考和借鉴意义。

Though it is a pivotal issue for inventors to determine and change the technological direction in their inventive life, few studies have investigated the transition patterns of interest. This paper obtained the patent classification information based on patent datasets, including 5,915,849 patents provided by USPTO from 1976 to 2015. Then, this study measured the trajectory of interest in these inventions. It is interesting that few of productive inventors hold the original invention field. However, their transition distance of interest is far from broad. By contrast, unproductive inventors showed opposite characteristics. This study is helpful for our understanding of group behaviors of inventors, which concerned policymaking and technological innovation management.