Global Innovation Network Differences among Japanese Companies, American Companies and German Companies: International patent application data analysis focused on Thailand

Abstract

This paper analyzes global innovation network with three distinguished features. First, the paper employs a newly proposed analytical framework that focuses on one specific overseas innovation site. In the case of this paper, Thailand is selected as a specific overseas innovation site. This framework enables us to observe the configuration of global innovation networks in a comparatively easy way. Second, the paper conducts a quantitative analysis using business transaction database of an international organization which is reliable and unbiased. Third, the paper finds out that the global innovation network patterns of Japanese companies, those of US (the United States of America) companies and those of German companies differ each other. For Japanese companies, the most frequent innovation network pattern is Japan-Thailand collaboration; for US companies, it is Thailand alone though relatively diverse patterns are recognized; and for German companies the most frequent innovation network patterns are the network of Germany, Thailand and the third country or countries, and Germany-Thailand collaboration.