Exploring innovation trajectories in high-tech industries through patent analysis: the case of the optical memories industry

Technological innovation occurs as an evolutionary, path-dependent and interactive searching activity of optimal alternatives and is fundamentally dominated by an intense activity addressed to identify and solve technical problems. As components recombination is a very efficient source of innovation that firms widely resort to, the capability to recombine pieces of knowledge available in the organization or transferable from the outside becomes an important lever in the technological innovation strategy of the firm. Technological innovation is conceptualised as the outcome of a change of either the technological components or a diverse combination of the components themselves. Data relative to granted patents were considered and the sub-classes of the classification standard adopted were associated to technological components. Indexes of familiarity and technological concentration are calculated to analyse innovation trajectories. The sample includes 438 patents granted between 1975 and 2004 to 15 leading firms in the optical memory devices industry.