Tracing the Emergence of New Technology: A Comparative Analysis of Five Technological Domains

The emergence of new technologies is an important and highly researched field. This paper identifies characteristics of the early stage of technology emergence by analyzing the initial patents in five different technologies (Optical information storage, optical information transmission, genome sequencing, 3D printing and magnetic resonance imaging). From the science and technology push perspective, the characteristics such as influence of initial technological knowledge, linkage to scientific knowledge, and actors of technological activity are identified in the emerging stage of the new technology. The main findings of the research are firstly that technological and scientific knowledge are strongly linked in the emerging stage as the initial patents in all five technologies cite scientific papers more highly than do patents that support the ongoing development of the technologies. Second, the initial patents during the emerging stage do not play a significant role in the overall technological knowledge flow over time. Finally, the proportion of patents held by non-firm entities in the early stage of technology emergence is relatively larger than that in the other stages in four out of five technological domains. The results provide some important hypotheses about the interaction of scientific results and technological invention that have not previously been offered and that can be further researched as data sources improve.