Patent map for emerging technologies: A case of solar cells technology

In recent years, emerging technologies have been attracting increasing attention worldwide, due to the emergence of these emerging technologies may have a profound influence on the global industrial and economic structure. How to identify and grasp the opportunity to develop emerging technologies is an important issue for companies, enterprises, and governments. This paper, therefore, proposes a framework that integrates patent map with experts´ intelligence, attempts to identify emerging technologies, map the development of the emerging technologies, and find China´s status in the emerging technologies domain. The solar cells technology is selected as a case study. This paper will contribute to the emerging technology studies, and will be of interest to solar cells researchers, business managers, and policy makers.