Social network analysis of innovation of industry-university-research cooperation in chemical industry (based on China patent licensing data)

Industry-university-research cooperation is one of the main ways for an enterprise to gain a competitive advantage. Based on the research perspective of social networks, this paper uses patent licensing announcement in the chemical industry among universities, research institutes and enterprises in 2010-2013 as the data source, and draws a map of innovation network of industry-university-research cooperation in the chemical industry using the software of Pajek and Gephi, and makes an analysis on trend and innovative subject analysis as well as the characteristics of innovation network of industry-university-research cooperation in the chemical industry. The results show that innovation network of industry-university-research cooperation in the chemical industry is a complex network system as a whole with more nodes and uneven distribution, showing scale-free and small-world properties. Chemical enterprises should actively participate in the industry-university-research cooperation and play the role of innovative subject in the industry. They need to establish a stable and effective incentive mechanism for innovation network environment, information and resource sharing, and promote interaction among network actors to enhance innovation ability of all parties.