# A Study on Technology Competition of Graphene Biomedical Technology Based on Patent Analysis
## 3 Methodology  
### Research Methodology  
Numerous studies have indicated that patent information has been regarded as an objective data source for providing a basis for TC [9; 14]. The quality of patents is the most important patent indicator to measure TC in the given technology field. It is interesting to find that the top 10% of the most valuable patents were captured from 48% to 93% of the total sample value of all patents through statistical analysis [51]. In the existing studies on TC, a single research methodology is often used, and there is a focus on static research or comparison research [20; 21]. Other research focuses on only assessing the number of patents [32; 52] where the quality of a patent is considered deficient. However, few have extended the research on the dynamic development trend of TC by employing a set of approaches, for example, a patent roadmap, and even fewer have emphasized the quality of patents rather than the number of patents from the perspective of a patent roadmap. In this paper, by integrating patent analysis and a patent roadmap, we attempt to introduce new patent indicators emphasizing patent quality to the previous patent roadmap, and to build a new and systematic research framework for identifying TC in the given technology field. The methodology contribution of this paper mainly has the following aspects. First, this study first integrates patent analysis with a patent roadmap in a research review, which illustrates the dynamic development trend of TC. In existing studies on TC, few studies have combined patent analysis with a patent roadmap to show the dynamic development trend of TC. To solve the existing problems of the above research, we attempt to build patent roadmaps that are based on the systematic research perspectives (e.g., industry, assignee, and technology perspective) of patent analysis, and to illustrate the dynamic development trend of TC in the target technological filed. Second, this study introduces indicators (e.g., high value patent of leading country and competition position of top assignees) to the previous patent roadmap and provides a new methodology for patent roadmaps from country and assignee levels. The existing research on patent roadmaps is more dependent on technical experts' advice and the lack of objective data, such as patent data. Few have extended research on measuring the number of patents, but the quality of patents and geographical distribution of those patents are considered deficient. In this study, we build new patent roadmaps from both a country level and assignee level, which focus on the quality of a patent rather than those studies that only assessed the number of patents. In addition, we consider the geographical distribution of those high quality patents, and use different colors to distinguish different countries. Collecting accurate data for patent analysis and patent roadmaps plays a crucial role in exploring TC. After reading the existing literature as well as consulting technical experts' advice, we carry out an appropriate patent retrieval query and obtain patent information from the INNOGRAPHY platform, as well as the Derwent Innovation Index (DII) platform, which are professional intellectual property databases. In Figure 1, data analysis is shown to constitute two steps. First, regarding patent analysis, this study attempts to identify TC from the perspectives of industry, assignee, and technology. Taking into account data accessibility, we attempt to use the following patent indicators to conduct patent analysis, and identify TC in graphene biomedical technology: the annual trend of patent activities, competition position of top assignees, and patent hotspots and fronts. The analysis of annual distributions or dynamic changes of the number of patents appeared to be very useful for assisting stakeholders realize development trends and TC of specific industrial domain [53].