Exploring potential R&D collaborators based on patent portfolio analysis: The case of biosensors

The purpose of this study is to develop a framework which modifies the patent portfolios analysis to identify potential R&D collaborators for enterprises. The proposed framework uses association analysis of patent documents to identify important technologies related to the technologies or products in question. This study also designs three indicators, namely technology field scale, relative technology advantage, and relative technological integration capability, to draw patent portfolio diagrams. The diagram can show the important complementary technologies for enterprises, providing valuable suggestions for potential R&D collaborators. To illustrate this framework, this study uses the framework to identify potential R&D collaborators for biosensor-related enterprises based on patents. Experimental results show that the patent portfolio diagrams can properly position biosensor-related enterprises and clearly show important complementary technologies for enterprises. Enterprises with important complementary technologies are good candidates for R&D collaboration.