Read the full-text of this article for free

Title: Global innovation and competition in quantum technology, viewed through the lens of patents and artificial intelligence

Authors: Zeki Can Seskir; Kelvin W. Willoughby

Addresses: Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlstraße 11, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany ' Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship, HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Jahnallee 59, 04109 Leipzig, Germany

Abstract: In this work we elucidate international trends in the field of quantum technology (QT) by analysing a global patent database built from an operational definition of QT that was generated through the curated application of artificial intelligence (AI). In doing so, we demonstrate how the sophisticated use of intellectual property information, enhanced by the artful deployment of AI techniques, may produce more reliable and useful revelations for policymakers and managers about global innovation in emerging fields of technology than is possible through conventional methods of data collection and analysis. We also demonstrate the utility of this approach for reliably characterising the evolving constituent sub-fields of QT. By adopting a hybrid human-AI approach to both the definition and the analysis of QT, we have produced some novel insights about global innovation and national organisational profiles in the QT field, particularly concerning dynamic competition between the USA and China.

Keywords: quantum technology; quantum innovation; patent analysis; artificial intelligence; patent landscape; patinformatics; global technological innovation; quantum competition; quantum industry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIPM.2023.129076

International Journal of Intellectual Property Management, 2023 Vol.13 No.1, pp.40 - 61

Received: 23 Nov 2021
Accepted: 24 Nov 2021
Published online: 17 Feb 2023 *