ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research
In a changing global geoeconomic environment, measuring technological influence is critical for evidence-based policy making. Using citations from the universe of PCT patent applications, we develop an empirical measure of technological influence that assesses the bilateral and global influence of inventions across countries. We examine the technological influence of Europe, the US, China, Japan, and Korea between 2000 and 2020 and highlight four insights. First, the US shows technological independence through its leadership in bilateral and global influence. Second, the US and Europe are highly integrated, but their global positions differ due to Europe’s bilateral dependence on all countries except China. Third, while Japan has recently declined from its former leading position, Korea has maintained a moderate global influence. Finally, although China has filed the most patents in recent years, its dependence on all other countries amounts to the highest global dependence.
