Patent overlay maps: Spain and the Basque Country

This study uses the new global patent map developed by Kay et al. (2014) to reflect the patenting activity of Spain together with the activity of the Basque Country, a highly industrialised region in Spain, for the time interval 2000-2006. The global patent map reflects the technology categories where a patent could be categorised according to the international patent classification (IPC) system, in addition to the degree of similarity among different IPCs, determined by using the citing-to-cited relationships as bonds between categories. An overlay method has been developed to compare, on the one hand, the patenting activity in Spain and the Basque Country and a display of the most important technology sectors and; on the other, the selection of a technology sector and an analysis of technology transfer in both regions through different IPCs to compare them and determine the possible technological sources remaining for development.