Statistical patent analysis indicators as a means of determining country technological specialisation

Patent data provide a rich set of information which can be used for comparative studies and trend analysis. The paper presents a systematic overview of the most appropriate tools methodologies that are available for determining the technological specialization of countries. Such analysis includes a discussion of databases, approaches, and indexes appropriate for this kind of analysis. This paper discusses different indicators of technological specialisation, concentration, and patent quality are analysed, including Revealed Technological Advantage (RTA) index, patent share, C20 concentration index, and Gini concentration index. the main available patent databases, especially those with open access, and summarizes arguments for the study of technological specialisation based on assignee and inventor patent data. Also the limits and potentials of the statistics on resident / nonresident patenting on internal and external markets are discussed in the paper.