Using patent data for collaboration network analysis. An application with USTPO data in PatentsView
Sergio Palomeque, Pablo Galaso
This workshop aims to provide practical training in the use of patent data for the study of collaborative networks. Participants will learn how to apply Back Bone Extraction (BBE) techniques that allows to identify significant links to approach the phenomenon of collaboration. Also some examples of research works that have used patent data will be presented and some of the general limitations of this type of data. Special emphasis will be placed on the technologies associated with patents and how to use them from a social network analysis perspective, allowing this methodology to be applied to units of analysis that are not people or organisations, but rather technological fields.
The specific objectives offered by the workshop to its participants are: (i) to become familiar with patent data and its usefulness for the study of network analysis, (ii) to become familiar with the main literature on the subject, (iii) to download USPTO data available through the PatentsView platform, (iv) to learn about and process the different tables included in the database, (v) to build (using R) different types of collaborative networks from this data, and (vi) to analyse these networks, emphasising some stylised facts common to this type of interactions.