A comparative analysis of China vs. US: Two important players in the nano-enhanced Drug Delivery (NEDD) race

With the global emphasis on the development of nanotechnology (“nano”), Nano-Enabled Drug Delivery (“NEDD”) systems are rapidly emerging as a key nano application area. NEDD offers promise in addressing pharmaceutical industry challenges concerning solubility, cost-reduction, disease & organ targeting, and patent lifecycle extension. This study compares NEDD research patterns for the US vs. China by profiling data compiled by a multi-component search strategy in Web of Science. We present a range of analyses to address research activity trends, concentration differences, and collaboration networks corresponding to three characteristics of “New and Emerging Science & Technologies,” for which NEDD represents a consequential case. Such “Tech Mining” can reveal to what extent these two countries have developed competency in this high technology area and help to address a wide array of further technology policy and management questions concerning this important biomedical arena. Our further aim is to build a family of analytical tools to facilitate efforts to forecast innovation pathways.