Mapping the scientific Landscapes of Nanofabrication & Sustainability

A new NanoFabNet report delineates the boundaries of the scientific fields of ‘nanofabrication’ and ‘sustainability’ in search of overlaps in both research and innovation (R&I) topics and individual experts that specialise in their pursuit. The NanoFabNet aims to establish an international hub for sustainable nanofabrication, whose structure, business model, detailed Read more…

Development in biotechnology patent applications, 1990-2012 (number of IP5 patent families by inventor’s country and priority date; see also: NOTE and SOURCE below) [Source (adapted): Steffi Friedrichs, OECD STI Working Papers, 2018/06]

The Rise & Fall of Technologies

On the 8. October 2018, Dr Steffi Friedrichs, Founder & Director of AcumenIST, was the invited NanoEarth Industry Speaker at Virginia Tech.
In a presentation entitled “The ‘Rise and Fall’ of Technologies (on the Example of Biotech and Nanotech)”, Steffi highlighted the difference between the two technologies and outline the potential pitfalls (for both the public and the private sector) in reducing the expected trajectory of any technology’s development to a mere copy of a previous experience.

Illustration of the orthogonality between the concepts of “basic” versus “applied” and “technology-push” versus “application-pull”.

STI Policy Trends in Comparison: Biotechnology, Nanotechnology and ICT

This in-depth “Trend-Analysis of Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for Biotechnology, Nanotechnology and Converging Technologies (BNCT)” analyses policies pertaining to nanotechnology and biotechnology over the past 30 to 40 years: it specifically studies and identifies their character (i.e. the questions (a) “Does a policy aim to push a technology (‘technology-push’) or to pull research towards a specific application (‘application-pull’)?” and (b) “Is a policy focused on one technology field only or is it applicable to a wide range of technologies?”).

Share of biotechnology patents by sub-areas, 1990-2012; (IP5 patent families)

Statistics & Indicators of Biotechnology and Nanotechnology

This report brings together the latest available patenting and bibliometric activity data on biotechnology, nanotechnology and related emerging and converging technologies.
The authors, on behalf of the OECD and its expert working groups, re-confirmed indicators and measurement methodology for the multidisciplinary and partially overlapping technologies with a view to establishing uniquely accurate and relevant datasets.

Composite background image: biotechnology, nanotechnology, converging technologies, statistics and indicators, policy assessment

Visualisation of Technology Convergence

The report provides a summary of trends and developments in biotechnology and nanotechnology over the last 20 to 25 years, based on the longitudinal analyses of patents.
In addition, an experimental indicator, which aims to identify trends and developments of research areas of biotechnology and nanotechnology, was introduced: publication titles of the two technology fields were analysed using a text-mining approach, and an overlay map of the most often use keyword co-occurrences was created, in order to visualise the developments over time in each research area.

Development in nanotechnology patent applications, 1990-2012 (number of IP5 patent families by inventor’s country and priority date; see also: NOTE and SOURCE below) [Source (adapted): Steffi Friedrichs, OECD STI Working Papers, 2018/06]

New statistical Definitions of Biotechnology and Nanotechnology

Agreement on a harmonised application of clear statistical definitions of technologies is pertinent to the delineation of technology fields both with regard to each other and within the context of wider economic developments.
This document represents a review of hitherto used statistical definitions of biotechnology and nanotechnology, and provides recommendations for the application of these definitions for statistical purposes.