Impact of science on technology applications in converging technological environments

The complex interaction between science and technology provide a great need to develop tools for strategic R&D management. Patent data include citations to previous patents and to the non-patent literature. Basically scientific papers reflect to research activities, whereas patents are considered as indicators for industrial developments. This paper present experiences to the concept of convergence from a patent citation analysis viewpoint. The citations to non-patent literature have been used for tracing the linkages between scientific research and technological innovation in converging technological environment. Patent data and their citations to non-patent literature were collected from the 87 main players operating in the RFID value chain. The analysed firms had altogether 464,225 patent application and 506,225 non-patent references (NPR) in the period 1978-2006. For the patents there were on average 4.2 references to patents and 1.1 references to non-patent literature. Non-patent references are a mixed set of references to scientific and technological references. The results of the analysis reveal great differences in the "science intensity" between different industry sectors. The patent indicators and the detailed analysis of the quota on non patent citations give an insight into interaction between technological and science convergence.