Title: Patent analytics driven approach to technology roadmaps - a case of photovoltaic technology

Authors: Bindu S. Kelaskar; R. Mukundan; Karuna Jain

Addresses: Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai – 400076, India ' National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Near L&T, Vihar Lake Rd, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400087, India ' National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Near L&T, Vihar Lake Rd, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400087, India

Abstract: Patent analytics process global technological information available to generate technological intelligence of competitors and develop competitive strategic directions. Through a combination of 'who vs. where vs. when vs. what' of technology growth, firms can identify the whitespaces in their relevant research domain. This paves the way to develop an efficient technology roadmap for the stakeholders ' user, firm, industry and the nation. Roadmaps charter the path for an entity to reach the various milestones. This exploratory work focuses on the use of patent analytics to develop a technology roadmap for high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells. High efficiency solar cells can be achieved in different ways and in this work, we focus on technology developments related to one of the solar cell process ' metallisation process done at the cell level that helps in increasing the cell efficiency.

Keywords: technology roadmaps; TRM; patent analytics; solar energy; solar power; patents; high efficiency crystalline silicon; solar cells; photovoltaic technology; metallisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIPM.2015.076544

International Journal of Intellectual Property Management, 2015 Vol.8 No.3/4, pp.147 - 171

Received: 10 Jan 2015
Accepted: 23 Jun 2015
Published online: 12 May 2016 *

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