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Sungchul Choi Department of Industrial and Management Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Republic of Korea blissray@postech.ac.krjanghyoon@postech.ac.kr

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Janghyeok Yoon Department of Industrial and Management Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Republic of Korea blissray@postech.ac.krjanghyoon@postech.ac.kr

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Kwangsoo Kim Department of Industrial and Management Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Republic of Korea blissray@postech.ac.krjanghyoon@postech.ac.kr

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Jae Yeol Lee Department of Industrial Engineering, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea jaeyeol@chonnam.ac.kr

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Cheol-Han Kim Department of IT Business Engineering, Daejon University, Daejon, Republic of Korea chkim@dju.kr

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Abstract

This paper suggests a method for Subject–Action–Object (SAO) network analysis of patents for technology trends identification by using the concept of function. The proposed method solves the shortcoming of the keyword-based approach to identification of technology trends, i.e., that it cannot represent how technologies are used or for what purpose. The concept of function provides information on how a technology is used and how it interacts with other technologies; the keyword-based approach does not provide such information. The proposed method uses an SAO model and represents “key concept” instead of “key word”. We present a procedure that formulates an SAO network by using SAO models extracted from patent documents, and a method that applies actor network theory to analyze technology implications of the SAO network. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the SAO network this paper presents a case study of patents related to Polymer Electrolyte Membrane technology in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells.

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Scientometrics
Language English
Size B5
Year of
Foundation
1978
Volumes
per Year
1
Issues
per Year
12
Founder Akadémiai Kiadó
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Address
H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
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Springer Nature Switzerland AG
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ISSN 0138-9130 (Print)
ISSN 1588-2861 (Online)