Emerging Technology Analysis Based on Patent Applications Using the Topic Emergence Map Method

Efficient budget allocation through the identification of emerging technologies is critical for national technological competitiveness in an era of rapid scientific and technological advancement. Existing studies leveraging machine learning and statistical methods face challenges in promptly capturing emerging technologies due to delays in data availability and reliance on single-word analyses, which fail to fully reflect textual context. This study addresses these issues by proposing a new method to analyze emerging technology trends in the digital healthcare sector using compound keywords from patent applications. The proposed method identifies emerging topics with low importance but high growth rates through topic emergence map, enabling interpretable and contextually rich insights. Application of the proposed method to digital healthcare patent data revealed notable emerging topics, demonstrating its effectiveness. The proposed method is versatile, with potential applications across various industries, contributing to strategic R&D planning and resource allocation by identifying new investment areas and forecasting resource needs.