Bionics in patents – semantic-based analysis for the exploitation of bionic principles in patents

In this paper we present a sophisticated method to exploit bionic inventions in patents with the help of semantic patent analysis. This method enables users to visualize similarities in patent content in a semantic patent map. These maps could be used for strategic decision-making, e.g. for developing technologies and commercial usage and – no less important – for providing new insights to researchers and practitioners involved in bionics. A case study of US-based patents between 1976 and 2006 clearly shows that most bionic inventions are patented as medical applications in the area of surgery. Other fields of technological applications, however, apparently do not make use of bionic ideas for solving inventive problems. As a result, bionics may provide great potential for solving technical problems that needs to be exploited, e.g. perhaps to be carried out with the help of TRIZ.

[1]  J. F. V. Vincent,et al.  Deployable Structures in Nature: Potential for Biomimicking , 2000 .

[2]  Derek Wood.  European patents for biotechnological inventions - past, present and future , 2001 .

[3]  R. Isenmann.  Further Efforts to Clarify Industrial Ecology's Hidden Philosophy of Nature , 2002 .

[4]  Keith Beresford,et al.  European patents for software, E-commerce and business model inventions , 2001 .

[5]  H. Berg,et al.  Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People , 1998 .

[6]  Lothar Harzheim,et al.  Evolution und Optimierung , 1998 .

[7]  S. Levine.  Products and Ecological Models: A Population Ecology Perspective , 1999 .

[8]  T. Graedel.  Industrial Ecology , 1995 .

[9]  F. Vester,et al.  Neuland des Denkens : vom technokratischen zum kybernetischen Zeitalter , 1984 .

[10]  K. Cuddington.  The “Balance of Nature” Metaphor and Equilibrium in Population Ecology , 2001 .

[11]  E. C. Engelsman,et al.  A patent-based cartography of technology , 1994 .

[12]  Holger Ernst,et al.  Patent information for strategic technology management , 2003 .

[13]  Teuvo Kohonen,et al.  Self-Organizing Maps , 2010 .

[14]  A. Doan.  Balance of Nature , 2002 .

[15]  Sandra Müller,et al.  Patent-Based Inventor Profiles as a Basis for Human Resource Decisions in Research and Development , 2005 .

[16]  P. Groenen,et al.  Modern Multidimensional Scaling: Theory and Applications , 1999 .

[17]  Udo E. Simonis.  Industrial Ecology: Mit Ökologie zukunftsorientiert wirtschaften [Industrial ecology: Dealing with ecology in a forward‐looking manner], by Ralf Isenmann and Michael von Hauff , 2008 .

[18]  C. Helmers,et al.  Patent Litigation in the UK , 2012 .

[19]  D. Tilley,et al.  Industrial Ecology and Ecological Engineering , 2003 .

[20]  M. Faber,et al.  Malthus vs. Wordsworth: Perspectives on humankind, nature and economy. A contribution to the history and the foundations of ecological economics , 2005 .

[21]  Yongtae Park,et al.  On the Development and Application of a Self-Organizing Feature Map-Based Patent Map , 2002 .

[22]  Byungun Yoon,et al.  A text-mining-based patent network: Analytical tool for high-technology trend , 2004 .

[23]  Y. Haila.  Beyond the Nature-Culture Dualism , 2000 .

[24]  H. P. F. Peters,et al.  Co-word-based science maps of chemical engineering. Part II: Representations by combined clustering and multidimensional scaling , 1993 .

[25]  H. P. F. Peters,et al.  Co-word-based science maps of chemical engineering. Part I: Representations by direct multidimensional scaling , 1993 .

[26]  Helmut Tributsch,et al.  Verpacktes Leben– Verpackte Technik , 2001 .

[27]  W. Nachtigall.  Technische Biologie und Bionik , 2013 .

[28]  Martin G. Moehrle,et al.  What is TRIZ? From Conceptual Basics to a Framework for Research , 2005 .

[29]  Helmut Tributsch,et al.  Bionik der Verpackung , 2009 .

[30]  Lu Yongxiang,et al.  Significance and Progress of Bionics , 2004 .

[31]  D. Austin,et al.  An Event-Study Approach to Measuring Innovative Output: The Case of Biotechnology , 1993 .

[32]  Cameron Tropea,et al.  Bionik : Biologisch-technische Systeme , 2002 .

[33]  Manuel Trajtenberg,et al.  Market Value and Patent Citations: A First Look , 2000 .

[34]  Yoseph Bar-Cohen,et al.  Biomimetics : Biologically Inspired Technologies , 2011 .

[35]  Janine M. Benyus,et al.  Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature , 1997 .

[36]  Davide Russo,et al.  Computer-aided analysis of patents and search for TRIZ contradictions , 2007 .