Statistical Survey of Nanotechnology related Patents as an Indicator of Nanotechnology Creation

In this paper, nanotechnology related patents published during the period 2001 – 2007 were enamined using the QPAT website in order to evaluate the innovatve strength and nanotechnology market attractiveness of different countries. As a first step, the share of nanotechnology related patents of each country in different patent offices (USPTO, EPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was statistically researched and analyzed. Then, the countries were ranked according to the number of published patents. The relationship between nano-science generation and nano-innovation strength was also investigated and the situation of the selected countries in term of both indicators was studied. According to the results, high scientific potential is not sufficient alone for promotion of nanotechnology creation but it is also imperative to develop the intellectual property infrastructure in this field. As a second step, the number of registered patents in each patent office available through the QPAT website was analyzed as an indicator of technology strength and interior market attractiveness and, finally, the relationship between innovative strength and market attractiveness was studied.