Patterns of technology upgrading – the case of biotechnology in China

Figures & data

Figure 1. Development of biotechnology (granted patents) in selected countries (regions).

Note: Patents are from eight patent issuing authorities (USPTO, JPO, KIPO, EPO, DPMA, UKIPO, FPO and SIPO).

Table 1. Growth rate of total patents and patent intensity in the selected countries/region.

	Number of biotech patents			Intensity of biotech patents (patents per million inhabitants)
Country/region	2006	2015	Growth rate	2006	2015	Growth rate
Worldwide	13,098	20,363	5%
USA	5742	6662	2%	19.24	20.73	1%
Japan	2532	2631	0%	19.80	20.72	1%
South Korea	609	1741	12%	12.59	34.40	12%
Germany	1106	928	−2%	13.42	11.43	−2%
France	637	567	−1%	10.07	8.53	−2%
UK	423	392	−1%	6.98	6.04	−2%
China	288	4883	37%	0.22	3.56	36%

Note: Growth rate is calculated at the exponential growth function.

Source: Authors’ own calculation based on data from DWPI.

Table 2. Revealed technology advantage of biotech fields.

		2006	2008	2010	2013	2015
China	Agricultural biotech	0.49	0.79	0.86	0.85	0.95
	Industrial biotech	1.15	1.14	1.17	1.20	1.20
	Medical biotech	0.82	0.90	0.78	0.84	0.84
	Diversification level	2.48	5.19	4.55	4.71	5.40
US	Agricultural biotech	1.21	1.22	1.25	1.45	1.33
	Industrial biotech	0.54	0.66	0.68	0.73	0.72
	Medical biotech	1.04	1.05	1.04	1.00	1.04
	Diversification level	2.67	3.45	3.43	2.92	3.38
South Korea	Agricultural biotech	0.44	0.46	0.50	0.85	0.80
	Industrial biotech	1.04	1.36	1.22	1.05	1.00
	Medical biotech	0.91	0.84	0.88	0.91	0.96
	Diversification level	2.52	1.94	2.41	8.98	8.69

Source: Authors’ own calculation based on data from DWPI.

Table 3. Organizational structure of patent applicants.

	Agricultural biotech	Industrial biotech	Medical biotech
Firms	16%	35%	29%
Universities	32%	27%	21%
Research institutes	37%	10%	22%
Government agencies and organizations	1%	1%	7%
Individuals	6%	20%	12%

Source: Authors’ own calculation based on data from DWPI.

Table 4. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) between granted patents and several factors (2006–2015).

	Agriculture	Industrial	Medical
Share of firm patents	−0.6282	0.6698**	−0.4822
	0.0518	0.0341	0.1581
Share of public organization patents	0.8205**	0.4572	0.9032***
	0.0036	0.1840	0.0000
Ratio of firm patents to public organization patents	−0.8029**	−0.0501	−0.7667**
	0.0052	0.8907	0.0097
Global share of biotech publications	0.9077***	0.9420***	0.9741***
	0.0003	0.0000	0.0000
Global share of high-quality biotech publications	0.8205**	0.9651***	0.9883***
	0.0036	0.0000	0.0000
year groups	10	10	10

Note: (1) High-quality biotech publications refer to the top 1% highly cited biotech publications. (2) We report the level of significance in italics. ***at 0.001 significance level; **at 0.01 significance level; *at 0.05 significance level.

Table 5. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) between biotech patents and publications.

	6 Top countries	South Korea	China	East Europe
Agricultural bio	0.9719***	0.8559**	0.9103***	0.3536***
	0.0000	0.0016	0.0003	0.0003
Industrial bio	0.6424***	0.8622**	0.9517***	0.1059
	0.0000	0.0013	0.0000	0.2945
Medical bio	0.9009***	0.8579**	0.9812***	0.3579***
	0.0000	0.0015	0.0000	0.0003
Observations	60	10	10	100

Note: (1) We report the level of significance in italics. ***at 0.001 significance level; **at 0.01 significance level; *at 0.05 significance level. (2) Six top countries include USA, Japan, South Korea, Germany, France, and UK. (3) Eastern Europe group includes Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Bulgaria. (4) Data covers 10-year period from 2006 to 2015.

Source: Authors’ own calculation based on data from DWPI.

Table 6. Shares of knowledge sources for patents granted to Chinese inventors.

	Field	Year	China	US	Europe	Japan	Korea
SIPO patents	Ind-bio	2006	47%	39%	0%	13%	1%
		2015	76%	7%	5%	7%	2%
	Agri-bio	2007	53%	22%	14%	3%	0%
		2015	76%	10%	6%	4%	1%
	Med-bio	2006	60%	37%	0%	3%	0%
		2015	74%	12%	8%	4%	1%
Non SIPO patents (from USPTO, JPO, KIPO, EPO, DPMA, UKIPO, FPO)	Ind-bio	2006	11%	60%	0%	20%	0%
		2015	20%	28%	18%	17%	1%
	Agri-bio	2006	4%	70%	13%	0%	0%
		2015	23%	18%	15%	45%	0%
	Med-bio	2006	12%	61%	15%	8%	0%
		2015	39%	30%	18%	7%	1%

Source: Authors’ own calculation based on data from DWPI.

Figure 2. Share of local patents cited by Chinese biotech patents.

Note: We take the share in non-SIPO patents as a two-year moving average.

Figure A1. Intensity of biotechnology (log of biotech patents per thousand inhabitants).

Note: Patent intensity is measured by the logarithm of granted patents per thousand inhabitants.

Table A1. International patent classification codes for three sub-fields.

Sub-fields	International classification codes
Medical biotech	IPC = ((A16K-035* NOT (A16K-035/0* OR A16K-035/10)) OR A61K-038* OR A61K-039* OR A61K-048* OR G01N-033/53* OR G01N-033/54* OR G01N-033/55* OR G01N-033/57* OR G01N-033/74 OR G01N-033/76 OR G01N-033/78 OR G01N-033/88 OR G01N-033/92 OR (A61* AND C12*) OR C12N-005/07* OR C12N-005/09* OR C12N-005/1* OR C12N-005/2* OR (C12Q* NOT (C12P* OR A01*)))
Agricultural biotech	IPC = (A01H-001* OR A01H-004* OR (A01* AND C12*))
Industrial biotech	IPC = ((C02F-003/34 OR C07G-011* OR C07G-013* OR C07G-015* OR C07K-004* OR C07K-014* OR C07K-016* OR C07K-017* OR C07K-019* OR C13K-001/02 OR G01N-027/327 OR G01N-033/68) OR ((C12N-001* OR C12N-005/02 OR C12N-005/04 OR C12N-007* OR C12N-009* OR C12N-011* OR C12N-013* OR C12N-015* OR C12P* OR C12M* OR C12S*) NOT (A01* OR A61*)) OR C12C* OR C12G* OR C12J)