The analysis of technical-scientific literature can be a crucial strategic component for Research and Development (R&D) and technological innovation activities. While patent documents provide information on essential technologies, Non-Patent Literature (NPL) offers a complementary and often broader perspective, playing a significant role in defining the state of the art. In this article, we will explore the importance of NPL and how including scientific articles and European projects can effectively guide innovation processes across various fields and for different purposes.
The Relevance of Technical-Scientific Literature Beyond Patents
In this article, the authors refer to NPL as the technical-scientific literature that complements patent documentation, such as scientific articles, European project proposals, conference proceedings, and technical reports. Sources like CORDIS or IEEE Xplore are fundamental for fully understanding the technological and scientific landscape of a given sector. Scientific papers, in particular, are an essential complement to patents in the study of innovation, as they provide theoretical, methodological, and experimental details related to technologies.
While patents are designed to protect specific inventions, scientific articles explore the theoretical foundations and implications of new technologies, contributing to a more complete picture of the state of the art. This allows for a deeper understanding of the technological landscape, enhancing the ability to make informed strategic decisions. Similarly, European projects provide valuable insights into trends and R&D investments, allowing for a full understanding of the competitive context and innovation opportunities. But what are some concrete examples of the strategic importance of the mentioned data sources? Let’s explore them together.
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Biometric Technology Landscaping for Frontex
In the context of the project carried out for Frontex, which aimed to provide a foresight analysis of biometric technologies to guide the European agency in developing and adopting new solutions for border control, the analysis of both patent and non-patent literature was essential. Starting from project requirements and the creation of a taxonomy of state-of-the-art biometric technologies, the research team defined a group of 20 technology clusters. These clusters were identified through patents and scientific publications using Text Mining (TM) algorithms based on NLP.
This process of patentometric and bibliometric analysis was conducted by examining proprietary databases for patents and the scientific literature available on OpenAIRE. Analyzing the trends and life cycles of these technology clusters using the aforementioned data, following Altshuller’s theory on inventive problem solving, allowed the team to understand the maturity levels of the technologies and what to expect for their future evolution. Finally, the research team queried the main public data repository of the European Commission for funded projects (CORDIS) to retrieve those R&D projects relevant to the analyzed technology clusters.
The analysis of these projects provided information on the evolution of European research and innovation funding over time, the geographical distribution of entities involved in the projects, and an indication of the most active beneficiary organizations. These studies were intended to complete the mapping of biometric technologies, offering an overview of how the EU has invested in relevant R&D projects and indicating where the highest level of knowledge and expertise within Europe can be expected.
Additional Information Frontex
1° In the patent field, the term NPL is defined as follows: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8392/1/1/19. The authors have chosen to consider the term in a broader sense, including all technical-scientific documentation not necessarily cited or connected to existing patents.
ETF: from Tech to Skills
The project carried out for the European Training Foundation (ETF) aimed to provide detailed evidence of emerging skill needs in the countries selected by the agency in the Mediterranean area. Given the rapid pace of technological, social, and environmental change and its potential impact on the labor market, the primary objective was to identify the skills that would become increasingly crucial in the future. Although skills analysis often focuses on the transformation of existing professional roles, some of these may no longer exist in the future.
This scenario sparked interest in determining skill needs and how they would be subsequently integrated to outline the jobs of tomorrow. The resulting complex and articulated methodology relied on NLP algorithms to infer emerging skills in specific sectors of various countries through the analysis of patent and scientific publication databases. Sequential analysis of these two databases allowed for the identification of drivers of change and technologies with a sharply increasing trend in terms of patenting, and the inference of associated skills and most impacted professional roles by cross-referencing another extraordinary data source: the ESCO database.
The ETF project ultimately provided a precise overview of emerging skills, facilitating the design of new professional profiles and preparing policymakers for changes in a constantly evolving labor market.
Conclusion
2° “European Skills, Competences, Qualifications, and Occupations,” a framework that represents the state of the art in terms of skills and professions at the European level.
In conclusion, Non-Patent Literature (NPL) plays an indispensable role in Research and Development (R&D) and Innovation in a broader sense, complementing and enriching the information derived from patents, offering a broader and more contextualized view of emerging technologies.
This diversification of sources allows for a more accurate understanding of the state of the art, facilitating the precise identification of trends and innovation opportunities. The experiences of the projects carried out for Frontex and ETF illustrate how the combination of patent data and NPL can accurately outline technological development paths and future skill needs, ensuring adequate preparation for market evolutions and technological changes.
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