The technological profile and specialization pattern of countries

The report provides a descriptive analysis of the patterns of technological specialization at the level of broad geographical areas and countries, using patent data as the main indicator of inventive performance. Using data from PATSTAT for the EPO, WIPO, USPTO and Triadic patents, it computes revealed technological advantages for the period 2000-2012. To this purpose, patents are re-classified following three alternative classifications according to: a) Thematic Priorities of the 7th Framework Programme; b) NACE Rev. 1.1 industrial sectors; and c) 35 IPC technological fields. Results show that the European Research Area (ERA) is characterised by a marked specialisation in mechanical-related areas and technologies (including transport) and by a rather strong de-specialisation in ICT and nanotechnologies. Conversely, Asia is markedly specialised in ICT and nanotechnologies and de-specialised in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and aerospace. Finally, the United States present a profile of strong specialisation in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, space and the more service-oriented segments of ICT and it is de-specialised in most mechanical-related fields. Results also show that the ERA is characterised by a higher degree of diversification of its technological strengths across a wider set of areas compared to United States and Asia. The latter, in particular, focuses its technological specialisation in a narrow set of fields, most notably ICT and nanotechnology. In other words, the fragmentation of research efforts that affects the ERA translates apparently into its specialisation profile and dynamics. Finally, analysis at the level of countries shows that from the first to the second half of the '00s there is a rather strong tendency for countries to group around well defined clusters and the distance between pairs of countries tends to increase. In this respect, the distance between European countries seems to increase with the formation of several sub-European clusters, each of which specialised in specific areas.