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An evolutionary process of global nanotechnology collaboration: a social network analysis of patents at USPTO

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Abstract

Using social network analysis to examine patenting data available at the USPTO, this paper explores an evolutionary process of global nanotechnology collaboration network from the perspective of entry and exit of collaborative organizations (nodes) and network’s preferential attachment process. The results show that the nanotechnology collaboration network evolved through frequent updates of the nodes and their relations (links). Compared with degree centrality and closeness centrality, betweenness centrality of an existing node was a significantly better predictor of the preferential attachment. The nodes with higher betweenness centrality were more influential to attract other nodes. This fact is observed while the network evolved. The results reveal that the core nodes with higher betweenness centrality were mostly large organizations that were equipped with core technology. They played an important broker role attracting more organizations into collaboration.

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Notes

  1. Government includes the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Tokyo, JP), National Research Council (Canada) (Ontario, CA), the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Commerce (Washington, DC), Commissariat a L’ Energie Atomique (FR), and others.

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Acknowledgements

This research has been supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71473026 and 71673037). Cao’s work has been partially supported by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation (SES-0531184 and SES-0938099).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Management and Economics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, People’s Republic of China

    Fengchao Liu & Na Zhang

  2. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, People’s Republic of China

    Cong Cao

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  1. Fengchao Liu
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Correspondence to Na Zhang.

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Liu, F., Zhang, N. & Cao, C. An evolutionary process of global nanotechnology collaboration: a social network analysis of patents at USPTO. Scientometrics 111, 1449–1465 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-017-2362-6

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