Title: Technology mapping using patent literature for supply chain management

Authors: Ashok K. Mittal, Bhuvanesh Mirdha

Addresses: Department of Industrial and Management Engineering, IIT Kanpur, India. ' Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Utter Predesh, 45-Jawahar Nagar Colony, Tonk Road, Jaipur, 302018, India

Abstract: Patent documents are a major source of technical and commercial information on technical progress, market trend and proprietary ownership. In the last few years, it has become possible to seek patents for software and business-related methods. Patent classification for these new areas is not well developed and identifying relevant documents for a specific technology domain is not easy. In this paper, we propose a method to derive the patterns and trends of a technology using information from patents to develop a technology map for a specific technology domain. Technology mapping is an effective evaluator for any technology|s health, useful for research and development planners and product evaluators for their customised product and services domain. In this paper, we have mapped supply chain management as an example of a methodology for technology mapping from patent literature using text mining tools. The methodology is interactive in nature. The mapping included classification at different levels, assignees, development trend and maturation level.

Keywords: supply chain management; patents; technology mapping; industrial logistics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2007.013209

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2007 Vol.3 No.4, pp.395 - 404

Published online: 12 Apr 2007 *

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