A Study on Generating Novel Inventions Based on F-Term Classification

This paper proposes a new invention creation method using patent classification information. Currently, innovation in nearly every field is being generated by the spread of information technology such as IoT and ICT. In Japan, major changes are expected in the country's economic and social structure with the emergence of the "hyper-smart society" (Society 5.0) in the not-so-distant future. In this context, promoting technology-led new inventions in a way that avoids overlapping investment and duplicate research will be essential. In this paper, we propose a method to capture trends in innovation by taking advantage of the information available in Japan's F-term classification system. Uniquely, the F-term system uses a meta-classification structure, with classification tables for each technology unit, identified by "theme code." By using multiple theme codes, including those for informationrelated technologies, it is possible to compare various technologies. Classification tables are indicators of the current common technical knowledge. These can be a source leading to the creation of new inventions by allowing innovators to identify viewpoints that have not already been explored. Discovering a new invention can also lead to a promising inventive next step. From the result of the analysis, our proposed method of the Fterm classification system to foster new inventions related to information technology is effective for capturing the technology trend.