Statistical Analysis of Cross-Field Inventions Made in Interconnected World

One recent development attracting interest is the movement of technologies into new sectors from existing businesses, going beyond the distinction between industries. Fujifilm, for example, entered the cosmetics field by paying attention to the similarity between film and skin composed of collagen. Nike developed new running shoes having the same suspension concept like the technologies applied for racing cars. Certainly the interconnected world is gradually expanded with the decrease of a potential barrier between industrial fields. The effectiveness of such cross-industrial innovations has been highly evaluated as one of concepts which can trigger breakthrough idea of new product development. Then, inventions combining technical features from different technical fields have, as a matter of course, more possibility of becoming a patent than those resulting from the combination of technical features within the same technical fields? In this study, I explore the effectiveness of such cross-field inventions by statistical analysis of Japanese patent applications. My analysis reveals that there are technical fields showing a significant difference between cross-field inventions and others. This study provides the implications for R&D managers who are seeking joint R&D partners, new and useful application of their core technologies or considering fusion with technologies in different fields.