Title: The ‘Rise and Fall’ of Technologies (on the Example of Biotechnology and Nanotechnology) Biotechnology has often been referred to as the bigger sister of nanotechnology. Indeed, the difference between the two technologies is often reduced to a mere two-decade time warp between the technologies’ hype cycles, and both technology analysists, policy-makers and pressure groups continue to entertain each other with numerous stories about the exchangeability of the two technology names in meeting agendas, expert panel discussions, public debates and policy documents. This talk by Steffi Friedrichs, however, highlights the difference between the two technologies and outline the potential pitfalls (for both the public and the private sector) in reducing the expected trajectory of any technology’s development to a mere copy of a previous experience. Steffi discusses the evidence recently published in two in-depth reports on the development of biotechnology and nanotechnology and their resulting impacts: 1. The Report on statistics and indicators of biotechnology and nanotechnology brings together the latest available patenting and bibliometric activity data on biotechnology, nanotechnology and related emerging and converging technologies. In order to achieve a comparison between the two technology fields, the selected indicators and measurement methodology for these multidisciplinary and partially overlapping technologies were re-confirmed and stress-tested with a view to establishing uniquely accurate and relevant datasets. 2. The Trend-analysis of science, technology and innovation policies for BNCTs studied the policies pertaining to nanotechnology and biotechnology over the past three decades and analysed them with regard to their directionality (i.e. the characteristics differentiating “technology-push” from “application-pull” policies) and their generality (i.e. the antonym of a technology-specificity that limits a policy to be applicable to a specific technology field only). (NOTE: this PDF of the original presentation has been annotated for sharing.)

1. The ‘Rise and Fall’ ofTechnologies
- on the Example of Biotech and Nanotech

2. Overview
Changes in technologies:
• … based on established indicators (e.g. patents, jobs, products, etc.)
• … based on new (exploratory) indicators
The impact of changes in technologies, and what it means:
• to decision makers
• to everybody else
NanoEarth Industry Seminar
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3. Patent Developments in Biotechnology
Development of sub-areas of
biotechnology patents over
time.
[Source: OECD (2016), unpublished results. ]
[Source: Friedrichs, S. (2018),“Report on statistics and indicators of
biotechnology and nanotechnology”, OECD Science,
Technology and Industry Working Papers, 2018/06, OECD
Publishing, Paris.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/3c70afa7-en]
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4. Patent Developments in Nanotechnology
Development of sub-areas of
nanotechnology patents over
time.
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[Source: Friedrichs, S. (2018),“Report on statistics and indicators of
biotechnology and nanotechnology”, OECD Science,
Technology and Industry Working Papers, 2018/06, OECD
Publishing, Paris.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/3c70afa7-en]

5. Science Publication Developments
Longitudinal analysis of the main words used in the titles of publications in
scientific journals:
• For each year between 1996 and 2014, the articles published in the journals categorised as
(a) Subject Category = Biotechnology, and (b) Subject Category = Nanoscience &
Nanotechnology (according to the SJR indicator) were identified, and
• The 2000 most highly-cited documents (i.e. those articles that received the highest number
of citations within the given year and subject category) were selected for the analysis.
• Time-series of 2D network maps of the most often occurring words were created using the
freeVOSviewer tool (version 6.1.3).
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6. [event title] [event date], [event place]
Looking at a PDF of this presentation?
Follow this link to see the time-series animation:
https://wp.me/aazLQg-jn

7. Notes: Science Publication Developments
A brief methodological discussion: Longitudinal analysis of the main words used in the titles
of publications in scientific journals:
• Some of the keywords identified in this analysis are broad and generic (e.g.“property”,
“characterisation”,“engineering”, etc.) and could be used in many different technology fields.
• … discuss!
• In the context of developments within a delineated technology field, changes in the use and
contextual appearance of such words indicate changes in the field’s focus of interest.
• For example, an emerging scientific discipline will commence with investigations and “characterization(s)”
of the underlying scientific phenomena and resulting “properties” of a new material, while mature science
and technology fields will apply previously obtained knowledge to the targeted “synthesis” of new
materials, such as “nanoparticles” or “graphene”, the analysis of more complex systems, such as the “cell”.
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8. 8
Looking at a PDF of this presentation?
Follow this link to see the time-series animation:
https://wp.me/aazLQg-jo

9. Visualising the Timeline of Technology Convergence
Longitudinal analysis of the
main words used in the
titles of scientific
publications in
biotechnology journals and
nanotechnology journals
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[Source: Friedrichs, S. (2018),“Report on statistics
and indicators of biotechnology and
nanotechnology”, OECD Science,
Technology and Industry Working Papers, 2018/06,
OECD Publishing, Paris.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/3c70afa7-en]

10. Visualisation of Technology Convergence: Summary
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Longitudinal analysis of
the main words used in
the titles of scientific
publications in
biotechnology journals
and nanotechnology
journals
[Source: Friedrichs, S. (2018),“Report on
statistics and indicators of biotechnology and
nanotechnology”, OECD Science,
Technology and Industry Working Papers,
2018/06, OECD Publishing, Paris.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/3c70afa7-en]

11. … so what?
Well, the technology impact model could be wrong.
The innovation logic of biotechnology and nanotechnology adheres to the ‘hourglass model’, characterised
by a one-to-many & many-to-one relationship between the areas of education and research the technology
draws from and the economic and societal value it generates:
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Elements of the ‘hourglass model’:
• Pronounced multidisciplinarity of the
technology through integration of
multiple (classical) research disciplines
• Strong enabling character of the
technology, demonstrated by its rapid
adoption into multiple economic
(product and service) sectors
• Predominantly interdisciplinary R&D
work
NanoEarth Industry Seminar
8. October 2018,Virginia Tech

12. The innovation logic of biotechnology and nanotechnology adheres to the ‘hourglass model’, characterised
by a one-to-many & many-to-one relationship between the areas of education and research the technology
draws from and the economic and societal value it generates:
12
Elements of the ‘hourglass model’:
• Pronounced multidisciplinarity of the
technology through integration of
multiple (classical) research disciplines
• Strong enabling character of the
technology, demonstrated by its rapid
adoption into multiple economic
(product and service) sectors
• Predominantly interdisciplinary R&D
work
NanoEarth Industry Seminar
8. October 2018,Virginia Tech
NOTE: The ‘hourglass model’ describes the
innovation logic of entire fields of technology;
it is not to be interpreted as a model of skills
transferability of individuals.
Example: The hourglass innovation logic of nanotechnology

13. The Impact of Technology Convergence
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Increased overlap between the two hourglasses of biotechnology and
nanotechnology both on the side of education and research and on
the side impact on economic sectors.

14. The Impact of Technology Convergence
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Education policies may have
unforeseen impact
Research funding may not
support the anticipated
innovation
Infrastructure funding may
be misdirected
Network support may be
ineffective
Economic value may be
assessed incorrectly
Research Impact may be
wrongly assigned
Skills assessment may
be misguided
Indicator choice
and Impact
Assessment
Public support
and investment

15. Take away
Changes in technologies:
• … based on established indicators (e.g.
patents, jobs, products, etc.)
• … based on new (exploratory) indicators
The impact of changes in technologies,
and what it means:
• to decision makers
• to everybody else
NanoEarth Industry Seminar
8. October 2018,Virginia Tech
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It is important to both monitor established
indicators and develop new indicators, in order to
enable a comparison to other (historic)
technology fields.
Validity test of new (exploratory) indicators:
analytical results based on new indicators should
be coherent with those of established indicators.
Biotechnology and nanotechnology were used as demonstrators of changes in the fields of
technology and increasing technology convergence; many other fields of technology are
constantly subjected to change and convergence.
In the case of biotechnology and nanotechnology, it was illustrated how both fields have (a)
undergone very different developments in the past three decades, and (b) shifted strongly
towards each other and created a growing field of technology convergence between them.
It is important to understand how fields of science change over time, in order to gather meaningful statistics and conduct informed impact
assessments of the technology field and of the public policies pertaining to it.

16. More Statistics, Indicators and Impact Assessment
of Biotechnology and Nanotechnology
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• Revised proposal for the revision of the statistical definitions of
biotechnology and nanotechnology
• Report on statistics and indicators of biotechnology and
nanotechnology
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/oecd-helps-assess-enabling-technologies-
developments-friedrichs/
• Trend-analysis of science, technology and innovation
policies for BNCTs
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/best-sti-policies-every-
age-steffi-friedrichs/

17. MoreVisualisation of Technology Convergence
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• 20Years of Developments in Biotechnology and Nanotechnology
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20-years-developments-biotechnology-
nanotechnology-steffi-friedrichs/

18. Thank you!
Steffi Friedrichs
AcumenIST
W: www.AcumenIST.com
E: Steffi@AcumenIST.com
T: +32 496 07 57 85
Skype: SteffiFriedrichs