Environmental Technology Strengths : International Rankings Based on US Patent Data

Patent information has been used by economists and researchers in the field of innovation to analyse current and forecast future technological directions. The recent surge in patenting activities in developed countries reaffirms the strong position of the patent system in a globalised world dominated by market mechanisms. This paper analyses the technological position of the top twelve foreign patenting countries in the USA, namely Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and UK, using four technological strength indicators based on patent data. These are the technological specialisation index (for national technological priorities), patent share (for global impact), citation rate (for further knowledge development) and rate of assigned patents (for market potential). The technological strength indicators are calculated for patents relating to environmental technologies between 1975 and 2000. These technologies are expected to have a significant impact on society, the economy and the natural environment as they have the potential to reduce the effects of global climate change. The empirical findings demonstrate that the expertise and strengths in environmental technologies are concentrated in a relatively small number of countries, namely Germany, Canada and Japan. Nevertheless, these countries show different priorities, being more successful in some aspects of technology strengths than in others