Comparison of administrative and regulatory green technologies development between China and the U.S. based on patent analysis

Abstract

With the increasing importance of computer intelligence in the new round of the industrial revolution, administrative, regulatory, or design (ARD) green technology contributes to improving national technological competitiveness and promoting the transformation of green technology, which is becoming an important field under sustainable development goals. The U.S. and China ranked top two in terms of paper influence and patent applications in the field of ARD green technology. However, few comparative studies have been conducted in these two countries. This study presents the evolution and landscapes of ARD green technology between China and the U.S., focusing on comparing development priorities and technical layouts in each five-year plan period. According to the “International Patent Classification (IPC) Green Inventory” launched by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), we retrieved 69,412 patents published between 2001 and 2020 from the PatSnap database. Descriptive, content, and thematic network analyses were conducted using latent dirichlet allocation (LDA) and community detection algorithms. The results show that both China and the U.S. strategically focus on ARD green technology development. The technical topics in this field can be divided into three themes: data processing systems, traffic control systems, and building designs. The emphasis on technology research and development (R&D) differs between China and the U.S. There is also evidence that the U.S. has advantages in terms of technological innovation and capabilities. However, China has an advantage in terms of data volume, and the gap between China and the U.S. is gradually narrowing. We also highlight the contributions and limitations of this study.