From observation, detection to design of innovative research and technology

Citation network analysis is a powerful approach to illustrate science map and therefore has been utilized for R&D planning and science and technology policy. However, observation of research trends based on publications and science map lags behind cutting-edge research front. Currently, much effort is devoted to develop methodology to detect emerging research front. In this paper, we develop further and propose an approach to design innovative research and technology and to assess industrial opportunities in addition to traditional observation and detection methods. Citation network was used to illustrate science map and to detect emerging research fronts. Then, text analysis was used to measure relatedness between papers and patents and also papers in different research domains to design innovative research and technology. Results of case studies in energy technologies are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed approach. Our results showed that proposed approach to integrate citation network analysis and text analysis can find plausible and promising research target and evaluate industrial opportunity.