Patent Analysis of Genetic Engineering Research in

Japan, Korea and Taiwan - Assessment of the Research

Szu-chia Lo

University LibraryNational Cheng-Kung University

Tainan, Taiwan

losu@mail.ncku.edu.tw

Copyright, 2005 © Szu-chia Lo

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The Study The aim of this study is to reveal the research growth,

distribution of research productivity and impact of genetic engineering research in Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

This study uses quantitative methods adopt from bibliometrics to analyze the patents granted to Japan, Korea and Taiwan by United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) from 1991 to 2002.

Research Methods Patent Count Citation Count Bradford’s Law Patent Coupling

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Literature Review

The Value of the Research Methods Productivity Research Research Impact Analysis Science Linkage

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Data and Research Methods

13,055 genetic engineering USPTO patents were identified and included in this study

IPC was used as primary key for retrieving the genetic engineering patents

841 JKT patents were studied further (assignee’s country was used for selecting JKT patents)

Bradford’s Model was applied to identify the core assignees

Patent Coupling was used to reveal the relevance among core assignees

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Basis Analysis - Productivity

Annual Growth 1,088 patents granted annually in average Numbers of patents granted increased dramatically during

the period of 1996 to 2002 Three zones of the productivity

Initial (1991-1995) Developing (1996-1998) Developed (1999-2002) Withdraw? (2003- )

Countries 42 countries share the patent right of 13,055 patents U.S. is the leading country not only in productivity, but also

in research impact

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Three Zones of Productivity

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Patent Growth Curve - Logistics

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Basic Analysis - Research Impact 18,490 patents cited 63,954 times by 13,055

patents. Citation age of most patent citations is from 2 to

8; Higher research impact was shown after the patent was issued 3 years and the impact started to decline after the patent issued 5 or 6 years

The countries with higher productivity also show greater impact

Japan, Germany, Great Britain and France also demonstrated significant performance in genetic engineering research

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Rank Country Granted Patents % Times Cited %

1 United States 9,843 75.40% 52,247 81.69%

2 Japan 765 5.86% 2,276 3.56%

3 Germany 492 3.77% 1,425 2.23%

4 Great Britain 482 3.69% 1,628 2.55%

5 France 421 3.22% 879 1.37%

6 Canada 389 2.98% 997 1.56%

7 Netherlands 200 1.53% 1,489 2.33%

8 Demark 128 0.98% 298 0.47%

9 Australia 120 0.92% 261 0.41%

10 Swiss 88 0.67% 257 0.40%

10 Sweden 88 0.67% 303 0.47%

12 Belgium 79 0.61% 155 0.24%

13 Israel 77 0.59% 223 0.35%

14 Italy 51 0.39% 117 0.18%

15 Korea 50 0.38% 38 0.06%

16 Finland 49 0.38% 287 0.45%

17 Taiwan 26 0.20% 28 0.04%

18 Austria 24 0.18% 27 0.04%

19 New Zealand 14 0.11% 29 0.05%

20 Spain 11 0.08% 31 0.05%

Productivity and Research Impact by Countries

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Japan, Korea and Taiwan Productivity

Japan was granted most patents among JKT Patents granted to Japan cover three GE technic

al areas; patents granted to Korea and Taiwan were more DNA recombinant related

270 assignees from JKT and only a few of them hold significant numbers of patents

Takeda, Hitachi, Takara, Suntory, Ajinomoto and Sumitomo are the top five productive assignees

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Bradford’s Model - Assignee Analysis

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Japan, Korea and Taiwan Research Impact

1,111 JKT patents were cited 2,216 times Japan was most cited country among JKT U.S. holds greater impact than JKT self-impact

on GE research 334 cited assignees were identified and 98.17%

of them were cited limited times The assignees with higher research impact also

have better performances in productivity Core assignees are highly self-cited

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Core Assignees from JKT

Rank Assignee Patent % Countries

1 Takeda Chemical Industries, Ltd. 45 5.35% JP

2 Hitachi, Ltd. 40 4.76% JP

3 Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd. 28 3.33% JP

4 Suntory Limited 27 3.21% JP

5 Ajinomoto Co., Inc. 23 2.73% JP

5 Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited 23 2.73% JP

7 Institute of Physical and Chemical Research 15 1.78% JP

7 Japan Tobacco Inc. 15 1.78% JP

9 Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd. 14 1.66% JP

9 Chemo-Sero-Therapeutic Research Ins 13 1.55% JP

9 Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation 13 1.55% JP

9 Mochida Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. 13 1.55% JP

13 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha 12 1.43% JP

13 Kirin Beer Kabushiki Kaisha 12 1.43% JP

13 National Science Council 12 1.43% TW

13 Toyo Boseki Kabushiki Kaisha 12 1.43% JP

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Correlations Analysis of Core Assignees 20 core assignees were included in the correlati

ons analysis Patent coupling technique was used 190 coupling pairs were formed and only 23 pair

s shared coupling patents Toyo and Wakunaga gets the highest coupling in

dex among 23 coupling pairs - nucleic acid testing technologies

Wakunage, Toyo, Takera, Asahi and Mitsubishi have higher CS comparing to other 20 core assignees

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Correlations Analysis of Core Assignees - Clusters

Cluster Assignees Technical NameSum of

CI

C1 Asahi, Kyowa, Takeda Genes encoding animal proteins 0.095

C2 Canon, Hitachi, Mochida Nucleic acid measurement 0.045

C3 Japan-Tobacco, Takara, Kirin

Introduction of genetic materials 0.048

C4 Ajinomoto, Chemo, Mitsubishi, Suntory

Genetic encoding animal proteins/ Introduction of genetic materials

0.085

Correlation Analysis and Hierarchical Classifying

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Discussions Finding

Japan is the leading country both in productivity and research impact in GE research among JKT

Core assignees are the potential techniques partners

The possible development - Integrating the researches of Plant DNA Recombinant Technology and Agriculture in Taiwan

Further studies Other technical areas Science Linkage

Thanks

Questions and Answers