Serendipitous identification of fields derived from technology spillovers from patent analysis: Case study of material science

Some R&D projects generated from technological seeds produce potential applications in other fields. In many industries, huge amounts of public investment are spent continuously over long periods. Advanced technology with high levels of technology are required and achieved. Even in cases with projects that apparently failed, technological and economical spinoff effects are expected from collaterally and often serendipitously developed technologies. A few empirical studies have assessed the extent of serendipitous technological spinoffs quantitatively. This report presents a proposed methodology for predicting technological fields that have plausible and diverse applications in other industries using bibliometrics and network analyses of patent publications. The dataset is extracted from a patent database served by Thomson Reuters. To identify and predict spin-offs will contribute to science and technology policymaking and to the development of potential business partners. We were able to observe the transition of technology transfer between fields with time expanded network. Our results suggest the possibility of using our approach to detect the potential technological and industrial fields where breakthroughs by innovative seeds in other fields can open new opportunities and directions of development.