CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en-gb" lang="en-gb"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=7YQSqjSh" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu:80/en/methodology","20100328222840","https://web.archive.org/","web","https://web-static.archive.org/_static/", "1269815320"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=p7PEIJWi" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7"/> <base href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/methodology"/> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/> <meta name="robots" content="index, follow"/> <meta name="keywords" content="Patent groups, financial, project, invention, information, databases, technology, information, data, priority, scope, board, methodology, corporate, names, global participation, companies filing methodology"/> <meta name="title" content="Methodology"/> <meta name="author" content="Administrator"/> <meta name="description" content="The Corporate Invention Board project builds on robust methodological choices in relation to:The kind of patents to be analyzed; The delineation of the perimeter of industrial groups; The matching of financial and patent data. "/> <meta name="generator" content="Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Management"/> <title>Methodology - Corporate Invention Board</title> <script type="text/javascript" src="/web/20100328222840js_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/media/system/js/mootools.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/web/20100328222840js_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/media/system/js/caption.js"></script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20100328222840cs_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/templates/system/css/system.css" type="text/css"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20100328222840cs_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/templates/system/css/general.css" type="text/css"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/web/20100328222840cs_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/templates/corpofinal5/css/template.css"/>   <script type="text/javascript" src="/web/20100328222840js_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/templates/corpofinal5/script.js"></script> </head> <body> <div id="art-page-background-simple-gradient"> </div> <div id="art-main"> <div class="art-Sheet"> <div class="art-Sheet-tl"></div> <div class="art-Sheet-tr"></div> <div class="art-Sheet-bl"></div> <div class="art-Sheet-br"></div> <div class="art-Sheet-tc"></div> <div class="art-Sheet-bc"></div> <div class="art-Sheet-cl"></div> <div class="art-Sheet-cr"></div> <div class="art-Sheet-cc"></div> <div class="art-Sheet-body"> <div class="art-Header"> <div class="art-Header-jpeg"></div> <div class="art-Logo"> <h1 id="name-text" class="art-Logo-name"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/">Corporate Invention Board</a></h1> <div id="slogan-text" class="art-Logo-text">For an in-depth analysis of global patent portfolios</div> <div id="ja-search"> <form action="index.php" method="post"> <div class="search"> <input name="searchword" id="mod_search_searchword" maxlength="20" alt="Search" class="inputbox" type="text" size="20" value="search..." onblur="if(this.value=='') this.value='search...';" onfocus="if(this.value=='search...') this.value='';"/> </div> <input type="hidden" name="task" value="search"/> <input type="hidden" name="option" value="com_search"/> <input type="hidden" name="Itemid" value="3"/> </form> </div> <div id="ja-lang"> <div id="jflanguageselection"><div class="rawimages"><span><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/fr/methodologie"><img src="/web/20100328222840im_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/components/com_joomfish/images/flags/fr.gif" alt="French (Fr)" title="French (Fr)"/></a></span><span id="active_language"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/methodology"><img src="/web/20100328222840im_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/components/com_joomfish/images/flags/en.gif" alt="English (United Kingdom)" title="English (United Kingdom)"/></a></span><span><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/es/metodologia"><img src="/web/20100328222840im_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/components/com_joomfish/images/flags/es.gif" alt="Español(Spanish Formal International)" title="Español(Spanish Formal International)"/></a></span></div></div>   </div> </div> </div> <div class="art-nav"> <div class="l"></div> <div class="r"></div> <ul class="art-menu"><li class="item1"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/"><span class="l"> </span><span class="r"> </span><span class="t">Home</span></a></li><li id="current" class="parent active item3"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/methodology" class="active"><span class="l"> </span><span class="r"> </span><span class="t">Methodology</span></a><ul><li class="item4"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/methodology/methodology-for-patents-analysis">for patents analysis</a></li><li class="item5"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/methodology/methodology-for-identification-of-world-industrial-independent-groups">for identification groups</a></li><li class="item6"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/methodology/methodology-for-matching-financial-and-patents-databases">for matching databases</a></li></ul></li><li class="item7"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/data-sources"><span class="l"> </span><span class="r"> </span><span class="t">Data sources</span></a></li><li class="item8"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/corporate-rankings"><span class="l"> </span><span class="r"> </span><span class="t">Corporate Rankings</span></a></li><li class="parent item15"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/exploitation-of-the-cib-database"><span class="l"> </span><span class="r"> </span><span class="t">Exploitation of the CIB</span></a><ul><li class="item10"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/exploitation-of-the-cib-database/exploitation-of-the-cib-database">CIB database</a></li><li class="item16"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/exploitation-of-the-cib-database/current-research-projects">Research projects</a></li></ul></li><li class="item17"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/data-visualisation"><span class="l"> </span><span class="r"> </span><span class="t">Visualisation</span></a></li><li class="item11"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/news"><span class="l"> </span><span class="r"> </span><span class="t">News</span></a></li><li class="item9"><a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/the-project-team-and-partners"><span class="l"> </span><span class="r"> </span><span class="t">Project team</span></a></li></ul></div> <div class="art-contentLayout"> <div class="art-content-wide"> <div class="art-nostyle"> <span class="breadcrumbs pathway"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/" class="pathway">Home</a> <img src="/web/20100328222840im_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/images/M_images/arrow.png" alt=""/> Methodology</span> </div> <div class="art-Post"> <div class="art-Post-tl"></div> <div class="art-Post-tr"></div> <div class="art-Post-bl"></div> <div class="art-Post-br"></div> <div class="art-Post-tc"></div> <div class="art-Post-bc"></div> <div class="art-Post-cl"></div> <div class="art-Post-cr"></div> <div class="art-Post-cc"></div> <div class="art-Post-body"> <div class="art-Post-inner"> <div class="art-PostMetadataHeader"> <h2 class="art-PostHeader"> Methodology </h2> </div> <div class="art-PostHeaderIcons art-metadata-icons"> <a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/methodology?format=phocapdf" title="PDF" onclick="window.open(this.href,'win2','status=no,toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,titlebar=no,menubar=no,resizable=yes,width=640,height=480,directories=no,location=no'); return false;" rel="nofollow"><img src="/web/20100328222840im_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/templates/corpofinal5/images/pdf_button.png" alt="PDF"/></a> | <a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/methodology?tmpl=component&print=1&page=" title="Print" onclick="window.open(this.href,'win2','status=no,toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,titlebar=no,menubar=no,resizable=yes,width=640,height=480,directories=no,location=no'); return false;" rel="nofollow"><img src="/web/20100328222840im_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/templates/corpofinal5/images/printButton.png" alt="Print"/></a> | <a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/component/mailto/?tmpl=component&link=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb3Jwb3JhdGVpbnZlbnRpb25ib2FyZC5ldS9lbi9tZXRob2RvbG9neQ%3D%3D" title="E-mail" onclick="window.open(this.href,'win2','width=400,height=350,menubar=yes,resizable=yes'); return false;"><img src="/web/20100328222840im_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/templates/corpofinal5/images/emailButton.png" alt="E-mail"/></a> </div> <div class="art-PostContent"> <div class="art-article"><p>The Corporate Invention Board project builds on robust methodological choices in relation to:</p> <ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc"> <li>The kind of patents to be analyzed;</li> <li>The delineation of the perimeter of industrial groups;</li> <li>The matching of financial and patent data.</li> </ul> <h4><strong>Priority patents applications reveal technological potential at actor’s or territory’s level </strong></h4> <div>To explore technological strategies of multinational corporations, the Corporate Invention Board chose to focus on the analysis of priority patents applications. Priority patents applications are markers of a technical newness. A priority patent corresponds to the first application of the patent in a national office. Patents application happens at the beginning of patents’ examination while granting of patents is only at the end of this process. Furthermore, priority patents applications are made before any other request for extension whether in the same office (for technical reasons) or in another office (for geographical coverage reasons). In addition, these documents have a filing date closer to that of the invention - contrary to the extensions which are generally applied for at a later date than the time of the innovation. Priority patents applications are thus better adapted to stay close to the initial time of innovation. For more details see:<a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/methodology/methodology-for-patents-analysis" target="_parent"> Methodology for patents’ analysis</a>.</div> <h4><strong>Groups perimeter definition criteria</strong></h4> <div>The Corporate Invention Board project uses the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100328222840/http://www.bvdep.com/en/ORBIS.html" target="_blank">Orbis</a> financial database to identify the perimeter of world industrial independent groups. To aggregate related entities (subsidiaries, companies acquired after a fusion and acquisition process) we use the “Global Ultimate Owner” (GUO) information. When a GUO has a share higher than 50,01% in a firm, it is considered to be one of its subsidiaries. Following this procedure, we have identified 2400 groups and 170,000 subsidiary companies. They constitute the <span style="color: black;">population of companies analyzed in this project. For more details see: <a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/methodology/methodology-for-identification-of-world-industrial-independent-groups" target="_parent">Methodology for identification of the industrial world independent groups</a>.</span></div> <h4><strong>Company name processing</strong></h4> <div>As information comes from two distinct databases (financial and patents), additional processing to match this information was required. This was done by developing a specific in-house program. It first cleans company names of any spelling irregularity (for example, double spaces). It then removes the name of the companies’ legal designations (Ltd, Inc., Spa…) and uses names present in the Orbis database to fish those that are related in the Patstat database. For more details see: <a href="/web/20100328222840/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/en/methodology/methodology-for-matching-financial-and-patents-databases" target="_parent">Methodology for matching the financial and patent databases</a></div> </div><span class="article_separator"> </span> </div> <div class="cleared"></div> </div> <div class="cleared"></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="cleared"></div> <div class="art-Footer"> <div class="art-Footer-inner"> <div class="art-Footer-text"> <p>© Corporate Invention Board 2009 - 2010.<br/> All Rights Reserved.</p> </div> </div> <div class="art-Footer-background"></div> </div> <div class="cleared"></div> </div> </div> <div class="cleared"></div> <p class="art-page-footer"></p> </div>  <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://web.archive.org/web/20100328222840/https://ssl." : "https://web.archive.org/web/20100328222840/http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-778526-4"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}</script> </body>  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100328222840/http://www.phpmyvisites.net/" title="phpMyVisites | Open source web analytics" onclick="window.open(this.href);return(false);"><script type="text/javascript">  </script> <script language="javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20100328222840js_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/phpmv2/phpmyvisites.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <object><noscript><p>phpMyVisites | Open source web analytics <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20100328222840im_/http://www.corporateinventionboard.eu/phpmv2/phpmyvisites.php" alt="Statistics" style="border:0"/> </p></noscript></object></a>  </html>