Technology transfer of user-driven technological innovation: Evidence from patents in the medical device industry

IF 10.9 1区管理学 Q1 ENGINEERING, INDUSTRIAL

Technovation Pub Date : 2025-06-25 DOI:10.1016/j.technovation.2025.103299

Youngjae Choi , Seokhyun Ryu , Sun Young Park , Sungjoo Lee

{"title":"Technology transfer of user-driven technological innovation: Evidence from patents in the medical device industry","authors":"Youngjae Choi , Seokhyun Ryu , Sun Young Park , Sungjoo Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.technovation.2025.103299","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Users have long been regarded as a useful source for technological innovation. Focusing on patent data, this study aims to investigate the contribution of users to technological innovation in the medical device industry. We first examine the overall trends of patents produced by users, named as user patents, in the target sector, and then analyze the technological characteristics of the user patents that are more likely to be transferred to companies, thus, contributing significantly to the technological innovation in the sector. The analysis results indicate that while the absolute number of user patents has increased, their ratio has decreased in the last ten years. However, despite the diminishing contribution of users, some of the user patents were regarded as highly valuable and transferred to companies for commercialization. In general, patents of lower component familiarity and novelty with high versatility were more likely to be transferred, where user patents strengthened the positive effect of versatility and weakened the negative effect of novelty on patent transferability compared to firm patents. The study's findings are expected to help understand the characteristics of user patents and their transferability in the medical device industry, ultimately promoting the commercialization of user innovation through technology transfer.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49444,"journal":{"name":"Technovation","volume":"146 ","pages":"Article 103299"},"PeriodicalIF":10.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Technovation","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166497225001312","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, INDUSTRIAL","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Users have long been regarded as a useful source for technological innovation. Focusing on patent data, this study aims to investigate the contribution of users to technological innovation in the medical device industry. We first examine the overall trends of patents produced by users, named as user patents, in the target sector, and then analyze the technological characteristics of the user patents that are more likely to be transferred to companies, thus, contributing significantly to the technological innovation in the sector. The analysis results indicate that while the absolute number of user patents has increased, their ratio has decreased in the last ten years. However, despite the diminishing contribution of users, some of the user patents were regarded as highly valuable and transferred to companies for commercialization. In general, patents of lower component familiarity and novelty with high versatility were more likely to be transferred, where user patents strengthened the positive effect of versatility and weakened the negative effect of novelty on patent transferability compared to firm patents. The study's findings are expected to help understand the characteristics of user patents and their transferability in the medical device industry, ultimately promoting the commercialization of user innovation through technology transfer.

查看原文本刊更多论文

用户驱动技术创新的技术转移：来自医疗器械行业专利的证据

长期以来，用户一直被视为技术创新的有用来源。本研究以专利数据为基础，探讨使用者对医疗器械产业技术创新的贡献。我们首先考察了目标行业中用户产生的专利（即用户专利）的总体趋势，然后分析了更有可能向企业转移的用户专利的技术特征，从而对该行业的技术创新做出了重大贡献。分析结果表明，近10年来，用户专利的绝对数量有所增加，但占比有所下降。然而，尽管用户的贡献在减少，但一些用户专利被认为是非常有价值的，并被转让给公司进行商业化。总体而言，组件熟悉度较低的专利和通用性较高的新颖性专利更容易被转移，其中用户专利与企业专利相比，增强了通用性的正效应，减弱了新颖性对专利可转移性的负效应。研究结果将有助于了解用户专利的特点及其在医疗器械行业的可转让性，最终通过技术转让促进用户创新的商业化。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Technovation 管理科学-工程：工业

CiteScore

15.10

自引率

11.20%

发文量

208

审稿时长

91 days

期刊介绍： The interdisciplinary journal Technovation covers various aspects of technological innovation, exploring processes, products, and social impacts. It examines innovation in both process and product realms, including social innovations like regulatory frameworks and non-economic benefits. Topics range from emerging trends and capital for development to managing technology-intensive ventures and innovation in organizations of different sizes. It also discusses organizational structures, investment strategies for science and technology enterprises, and the roles of technological innovators. Additionally, it addresses technology transfer between developing countries and innovation across enterprise, political, and economic systems.