1Ph.D. Program in Intellectual Property Convergence Department, Chungnam National University; Chief Patent Officer in National Strategic Technology Patent Division, Korea Intellectual Property Strategy Agency, Republic of Korea
2Professor of Electrical, Electronic, and Communication Engineering Education, College of Education, Chungnam National University, Republic of Korea
Correspondence to Taehoon Kim , E-mail: kth0423@cnu.ac.kr
Volume 20, Number 2, Pages 145-165, June 2025.
Journal of Intellectual Property 2025;20(2):145-165. https://doi.org/10.34122/jip.2025.20.2.145
Received on February 10, 2025, Revised on March 01, 2025, Accepted on May 30, 2025, Published on June 30, 2025.
Copyright © 2025 Korea Institute of Intellectual Property.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the article is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Technological advancement is accelerating rapidly. Technology continues to evolve through diffusion and convergence, making the development of objective data-driven methodologies based on patents to compare temporal patterns of technology diffusion and convergence essential. This paper proposes a methodology for comparing technology diffusion and convergence patterns using patent citation indices and co-classification information. The proposed method applies patent citation data and co-classification information to a logistic diffusion-convergence model to measure the peak diffusion time and saturation threshold of a given technology. For empirical validation, 7,173 patent records from the field of quantum computing were analyzed. The experimental results indicated that the peak diffusion and convergence times were calculated as 11.58 and 17.98 years, respectively, whereas the diffusion and convergence saturation thresholds were determined to be 46.21 and 35.45 years, respectively. This implies that in quantum computing, technology diffusion reaches its peak earlier than convergence, whereas the saturation threshold is reached earlier for convergence than for diffusion. Through this empirical analysis, we demonstrated that applying the proposed methodology enables the identification and comparison of diffusion and convergence patterns across technologies. Consequently, R&D policymakers across various technological domains can leverage this methodology to obtain objective insights into the direction of technological advancement. Additionally, by distinguishing between fundamental scientific technologies and market-driven convergent technologies, policymakers can strategically design investment directions and prioritize R&D funding more effectively at different stages of technological development.
Patent information, Quantum computer, Technology diffusion, Technology convergence, Technology diffusion pattern, Technology convergence pattern
No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.
The author received manuscript fees for this article from Korea Institute of Intellectual Property.