以專利引證探討全球自行車產業技術知識流動

Analyzing Technological Knowledge Flows in Global Bicycle Industry Through Patent Citation

近年因綠色意識逐漸提高，使自行車產業之發展更趨成熟，且在全球知識 經濟逐漸擴展的過程中，專利扮演產業發展過程中的重要角色。本研究以社會 網絡概念出發，透過社會網絡分析得自行車產業專利之技術流動概況，藉由專 利間相互引證之關係，建構自行車專利引證網絡，了解自行車產業技術演化概 況，進而得知其知識流動情形與預測該發展脈絡。本研究資料來源為美國專利 商標局(USPTO)之資料庫，從1976至2010年間之自行車專利共5526筆。透過 此些專利，藉由自行車產業專利特徵以分析自行車之專利，有助了解自行車產 業發展情形及企業之創新能力，並可提升自行車產業之運作效能，預測未來專 利技術發展的可能方向，藉由專利技術建立防禦堡壘，提昇企業自我競爭優勢。 本研究對於自行車產業專利技術知識、產業動態以及網絡分析、與專利引證網 絡地圖等具有學術研究價值。藉由結合專利分析與網絡理論，以探討專利知識 流動之影響力，發現專利數量及知識流動頻率，隨時間推演逐漸提升，主要集 中在特定領域。對於未來發展方向之可行性，建議了解並發展核心專利，對於 市場發展及專利戰爭中，有極大競爭優勢。

In recent years， the development of bicycle industry has become more and more mature. Patent as a type of intellectual property plays an important role in the development of a knowledge economy. This research utilizes the concept of Social Network Analysis to understand technology flow in the bicycle industry depicted by patented technologies. By constructing and analyzing patents’ citation network， the technological structure in the bicycle industry can be obtained and therefore knowledge flow as well as technology development context can be forecasted. This study downloads all bicycle patents from 1976-2010 (a total of 5526 patents) from USPTO database and analyzes characteristic attributes of every patent to understand featuring patent characteristics as a function of time， as well as to understand the development of the bicycle industry and its innovation capability. The obtained results are able to help improve the development strategy of the bicycle Industry and advance patent strategy for the development of a more advanced green environment in a sustainable economy. Furthermore， by combing theories and analyses from patented technologies， industrial trends， patent citation network analyses…etc. The impact of knowledge flow is realized and discussed. It is found that it is important to develop patents in the core technology fields within the bicycle industry as it provides the competitive edge necessary for market expansions as well as in patent litigation lawsuits.