Michalitsch R., Kallinger C., Veefkind V., Verbandt Y., Scheu M.
European Patent Office, NL
Keywords: Interdisciplinary Search, nanotechnology Patenting, Patent Statistics
As a consequence of large public and private investments in new technologies at the nanoscale, over the last years an increase in the filing numbers of European and PCT patent applications related to nanotechnology has been observed at the European Patent Office (EPO). A strategy has been devised to prepare the EPO for potential impacts this interdisciplinary emerging technology might have on workload per technical field, classification and search. First results are the agreement within the EPO on a definition of nanotechnology and the creation of the corresponding tagging system (Y01N). The introduction of this tagging system for nanotechnological patent applications and patents facilitates interdisciplinary searches in nanotechnological areas within the extensive patent databases of the EPO. We present public access possibilities to these databases and strategies for interdisciplinary searches using the Y01N tagging system. As a further benefit this tagging enables the monitoring of patenting trends in this area of technology and the extraction of valuable patent indicators to support evidence-based strategic decision making for economists, investors or funding agencies in nanotechnology. We present results using the Y01N tagging system to compare nanotechnology patent activities in the US, Europe and Japan
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 1, Technical Proceedings of the 2007 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, Volume 1
Published: May 20, 2007
Pages: 574 - 577
Industry sector: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing
Topic: Advanced Manufacturing
ISBN: 1-4200-6182-8