European Patents Citations Network Explorer is a web-based application that places Europe’s cities in the European innovation landscape.
By analyzing the classification and citations of patents issued in each city, it allows to visualize their specialization and their importance as a foster of innovation.
It was developed by Romain Lacroix for the course Géovisualisation dynamique et traitement de données (Dynamic geovisualization and data processing) given by C. Kaiser at UNIL.
What are we talking about ?
To understand the analysis of the application, you must know that:
- When a patented invention relies on another, the patent of the former must refer to the patent of the second. One says that a patent cites another.
- Patents can be linked to geographical locations, using the place of work of its inventor.
- Each patent is classified in a technological category that indicates on the nature of the invention. Examples of categories: pharmaceutical products, audiovisual products, etc.
Therefore, for each city, it is possible to build:
- The links it has with other cities in terms of citations between patents invented in each city: the more the invented patents in a city cite patents that were invented in another city, the stronger will be the link.
- The technological profile of each city by looking at the representation of each technological category within the set of patents invented there.
How to use the application?
The interface is split in two parts:
- A map on the left, where each circle represents a city. The size and color of the circle represents the number of patents that have been issued in the city.
By pointing at a city, one can see all the cities that are linked to it by patent citations. - Right, clicking on a city:
- You can see more or less strong links between the selected city or the others. These links represent each city’s share of all patent citation links.
- A histogram of the frequencies of each technological category of the patents issued in the selected city.
Target audience
The network approach of this application makes it particularly suitable for those who are interested in the relational position of the actors involved in the generation of knowledge flows. It is particularly intended for:
- Institutional branches of territorial and economic development (development agencies, chambers of commerce),
- Consulting firms working on industrial location,
- In general all the economic actors to whom intellectual property is important.
More information about European Patents Citations Network Explorer
You can use the app at https://rxlacroix.github.io/PEXP_1.1/.
For more information on the application, you can visit the github page of the work.