The knowledge network of patenting and technology studies

Summary form only given. The main theme inherent in this paper is that technological capabilities are not fully understood and remain understudied as a field of inquiry. As a proxy measure of such capabilities, a family of related patents may be viewed as the revealed manifestation of technological capabilities (RTC) at micro level. Patent databases have stored a wealth of publicly-held and verified knowledge. Obviously, this type of publicly-accessible and -protected indicators can be used to detect intellectual/technological capital in competitive environments. No individual, company, or country should ignore this invaluable competitive information in its research frontier. Before investing in a search for, and inclusion of, for example, tacit knowledge, embedded knowledge, embodied knowledge and so on, one must start with this verified knowledge. Moreover, it would be waste of time and effort, if such indicators of revealed technological capability knowledge are not cost-effectively data-mined prior to any large-scale research. Therefore, no patent or patent study should be ignored by any competitor with related ideas, as any patent can then act as the hidden "root system" for supporting the further growth of a "tree" and its new branches. When the full grown tree becomes visible, it is to late. Therefore, the data-mining or text-mining (and their further refined versions) should be utilized to reveal the existence of knowledge about any technological opportunities and/or research frontiers, however rudimentary prior to any related undertaking. This paper provides a methodology and examples for such an approach.