An Empirical Enquiry into Transnational Co-Patent Networks and their Characteristics, Evolution: The Case of Electric Vehicle Technology

Electric vehicle technology is a crucial technology for achieving sustainable energy transformation, which is of great significance to climate change and promotes sustainable development. This paper attempts to study the transnational R&D cooperation of electric vehicles. According to the authorized data of transnational co-patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a social network analysis method is employed, and a detailed study of transnational co-patent networks in electric vehicles is conducted, including the construction of network, the analysis of nationality distribution of co-patent inventors, the analysis of structural characteristics and important nodes of network in different stages from the perspective of inventors and countries. The research results show that the cooperative groups formed by inventors are independent of each other and have not yet formed a large network; the degree of transnational cooperation in developed countries far exceeds that in developing countries; the US and Germany are the dual-core in the transnational co-patent networks; the breadth and intensity of transnational cooperation are strengthening, and the regional borders are less and less restrictive. As for the existing problems, authoritative inventors could organize large international R&D cooperation institutions to gather dispersed inventors together and connect them into a large inventors' network; developing countries are encouraged to seek partners through the network, actively participate in transnational R&D cooperation, and developed countries are encouraged to hold global technological innovation events.