The path less traveled - Diversity creation in the field of emerging technologies, a patent text mining approach.

Abstract

Diversity creation in the technological system is widely acknowledged as the first principle necessary for technological change. However, little is yet known about the underlying mechanisms of diversity creation. Inherent to the lack of sufficient scientific research is the absence of an established and adequate operationalization of the concept. This study addresses both research gaps by applying a text mining technique to assess diversity creation of patented emerging technologies and analyzes potential influences therein. The concept of technological impact is incorporated as a second dependent variable for a complete coverage of the evolutionary principles of technological change. Drawing from the evolutionary theories of innovation and social network theories, the potential influence of inventor’s previous technological experience and network position are assessed. The findings of this study suggest that inventor attributes acquired up until two years prior to the technological invention are especially important in the diversity creation. For the impact of the technology, inventor attributes acquired three or more years before the time of invention have a significant effect. It is found that the diversity of technological experience positively influences the diversity creation and has a very small positive effect on impact. The degree of connectivity of an inventor in the co-inventor network positively influences diversity and impact. Lastly, the clustering around an inventor is positively related to the diversity creation. These findings not only contribute to the scientific gap on the mechanisms and influences of diversity creation, but has also validated the feasibility and value of the text mining technique to assess diversity creation in the technological system.