Measuring Patent's Influence on Technological Evolution: A Study of Knowledge Spanning as Driver of Inventive Activity

Abstract

We introduce technological influence as a variable to measure an invention’s direct and indirect impact on the evolution of technology. This provides a novel means to study the short and long run effect of invention antecedents on technological evolution, invention activity, and economic growth. A comparison between models of technological influence and direct technological impact is presented. Model estimations are based on data from semiconductor patents granted over a 5-year period. Results from quantile regression estimations show significant differences in the relationships between antecedents of technological influence and impact. For example, spanning knowledge boundaries has a positive effect on the spanning patent’s influence for breakthrough inventions, while no effect on direct citations. These results have important implications for public policy and the management of technology. They suggest the need for deeper understanding of the micro-foundations of the technological evolution process and raise the question of whether inventors under current IP protection receive adequate economic incentives to promote actions driving economic growth.

Keywords: Patents, technological trajectories, knowledge spanning, knowledge recombination, invention influence

JEL Classification: O30, O31