Elsevier

Technovation

Volume 21, Issue 4, April 2001, Pages 245-252
Technovation

Innovation assessment through patent analysis

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4972(00)00040-7Get rights and content

Abstract

Indian industry in the 1990s has had to cope both with the liberalization of imports into the country and rapid technological developments and innovations occurring in both product and process technologies. To come up with competitive new products and processes, Indian industry needs to have access to detailed information on technological innovations that it has to compete with. One major method of obtaining such information could be an analysis of Indian patent data. Since such data might signal the kinds of product and processes foreign companies are planning to introduce in India, an analysis of Indian patent data could provide firms with information that could help them with their strategic planning efforts. An analysis of patents accepted by the Indian patent office in the fields Electric Communication Techniques over the last five years is carried with the intention of assessing whether data available in these patent applications would enable Indian firms to accurately assess technological advances and innovations occurring in this sector. It is also compared with data on patents granted by the US Patent Office. Public policy measures that could make Indian patent data more useful for Indian firms are also suggested.

Introduction

Indian industry has had to face two particularly daunting challenges in the 1990s. A protected market has given way to a liberalized environment, where it faces competition from imported products. Indian industry has also had to cope with rapid technological developments and innovation occurring in both product and process technologies.

To come up with new products and processes, Indian industry needs to have access to detailed information on technological innovations that it has to compete with. While a search of patent literature and innovation surveys carried out in a competitor's parent country could give some idea of innovations taking place there, such information could be misleading because the competitor need not introduce that product in the Indian market.

A more reliable method of assessing competition could be an analysis of Indian patent data. Since competitors would normally apply for an Indian patent only if they intend to exploit an innovation in the Indian market, an analysis of Indian patent data could provide firms with information that could help in their strategic planning efforts.

This paper tries to assess the suitability of Indian patent data for understanding trends in technology development and innovation levels. An analysis of patents accepted by the Indian patent office over the last five years is carried out with the intention of assessing whether data available in these patent applications would enable Indian firms to accurately assess technological advances and innovations occurring in sectors relevant to them.

Section snippets

The Indian patent system

The Indian Patenting System is unique compared with the patenting systems followed in the rest of the world. It is this uniqueness that makes an analysis of patents filed in India so important for firms that operate within the country. While the rest of the world follows the provisions of the Paris Convention for the protection of intellectual property, Indian patenting regulations are based on the Indian Patents Act of 1970 (Sangal and Singh, 1987).

The Indian Patents Act of 1970 differs from

Hypotheses

The paper will test the following hypotheses.

  • 1.

    Patent applications filed in India reflect trends in technology development in a particular sector.

  • 2.

    Patent applications are filed for contemporary technologies.

  • 3.

    All relevant technologies are patented in India.

  • 4.

    The higher the level of the technology being patented, the lesser will be the detail contained in the title.

  • 5.

    The higher the level of the technology being patented, the longer will be the delay in granting the patent in India.

  • 6.

    Delays in granting

Patent analysis: a survey of literature

Analysis of patent data has long been considered to be an important method of assessing various aspects of technological change. Most studies have used patent statistics as a tool for either studying the relationship between technological development and economic growth (Penrose, 1951; Taylor and Silberston, 1973), or to assess the research and innovation process in a national and international context (Bosworth, 1984; Schiffel and Kitti, 1978; Paci and Sassu, 1997). Some studies, however, have

Methodology and data collection

The methodological goals of this study were to examine trends and patterns in patent applications in specific areas within “Electrical Engineering” (since one of the authors had a background in that area). Within “Electrical Engineering” (category H in the International Classification Scheme) we focused on the category H04 (Electrical Communication Technology), and collected data on all patents in all subcategories in H04 that have been accepted by the Indian Patent Office during the years 1992

Summary statistics

The dates of acceptance were between 1992 and 1997, and this (along with the specification of the subject category of H04) defines our sample. The dates of applications ranged from September 10, 1986 to June 15, 1995.

The average delay was 62.8 months (or about 5 years and 3 months). The standard deviation was 15.3 months (or 1 year and 3 months). The maximum delay was 115 months (or about 10 years) and the minimum was 21 months (or 1 year and 9 months).

There were 15 countries in the sample, with the USA

Summary and discussion

The paper had sought to test a number of hypotheses. The first three hypotheses — that patent applications filed in India reflect trends in technology development in a particular sector, that patent applications are filed for contemporary technologies and that all relevant technologies are patented in India — have not been proved by the research findings. The number of patent applications filed in this particular sector is far too meagre for it to reflect all of the technology trends in the

Conclusions

This paper has presented an analysis of Indian patent data in the fields Electric Communication Techniques over the last five years. In view of the rapid technological developments and innovations occurring in both product and process technologies, Indian industry needs to have access to detailed information on technological innovations that it has to compete with. An analysis of Indian patent data could provide firms with information that could help in their strategic planning efforts. This

Biju Paul Abraham obtained his M.A. in Political Science from the University of Kerala, India, his M.Phil. in International Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and his Ph.D. from King's College, University of London. Since 1996 he has been an Assistant Professor in the Environment Group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. His teaching and reasearch interests include science and technology policy, technology management and patents and intellectual property rights.

References (23)

  • W.B Ashton et al.

    Using patent information in technology business planning II

    Research-Technology Management

    (1988)

    • Cited by (0)

    1. Download : Download full-size image
    Biju Paul Abraham obtained his M.A. in Political Science from the University of Kerala, India, his M.Phil. in International Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and his Ph.D. from King's College, University of London. Since 1996 he has been an Assistant Professor in the Environment Group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. His teaching and reasearch interests include science and technology policy, technology management and patents and intellectual property rights.

    1. Download : Download full-size image
    Soumyo D. Moitra obtained his B.Sc. with Honours in Applied Physics from the University of Sussex, his M.A. from Cornell University, his M.S. in Operations Research from Syracuse University and his Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from Carnegie-Mellon University. He taught at Baruch College, City University of New York, and then worked at Bellcore for several years. Since 1995, he has been a Professor of Operations Management at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. He has been a Humboldt Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute, Germany and Invited Professor at NTT, Japan. His teaching and research interests are in operations research applications in technology management, telecommunications and marketing.

    View full text
    Copyright © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.