Evolutionary dynamics and scientific flows of nanotechnology research across geo-economic areas

The purpose of this paper is to analyze, by concentration measures, metrics of dispersion and heterogeneity, the dynamics of the production of scientific output in nanosciences and nanotechnologies across worldwide economic players. The main result is that the concentration ratio of the production of nanotechnology research across different macro subject areas has been reducing over time and space, because knowledge dynamics of nanotechnology research has been spreading among new research fields and different industries. In addition, South Korea and China show higher performance than other countries in nanotechnology scientific products per million people. This scientific analysis is important in order to understand the current knowledge dynamics and technological trajectories in nanotechnology that may support future patterns of economic growth.