Using patent data, a new quantitative analytical method categorizes the degree of integration of leading edge technologies in order to examine the current research & development (R&D) status and strategies of companies focusing in the fuel battery field, an area showing great potential as an alternative to fossil fuels. Specifically, this paper presents three types of categorization reflecting the International Patent Classification (IPC) of patent data, and introduces the concept of ‘innovation positions’, which is based on this categorization. Application purposes can be different between various industrial sectors, even within the same technological field; therefore, the progress status of R&D varies and that fact is reflected in innovation positions. Additionally, this paper makes clear that innovation positions reflect differences in companies' core competences, even in the same industry. Furthermore, by conducting an analysis based on F‐terms, it has been shown that dissimilarities exist in the focus of companies in the technological development of elements, even for those with identical innovation positions. This analytical method provides an original approach to comprehend technological linkages and innovation.

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In order to analyze the progress of research based on the integration of leading edge technologies, this paper introduces three types of patent data categorization, namely the Mix, Only and Mono-IPC type, respectively, expanding the concept of IPC Co-Occurrence. Additionally, the concept of innovation coordinate is introduced as a mean to investigate status and trends of R&D in the field of fuel cells for the years from 2000 to 2004. It is shown that yearly positions determined by the sets of patent applications in Japan concerning fuel cell kept changing during the period; occupation ratio of MIX type inventions decreased while those of Only and Mono-IPC type increased. The declining trend of MIX type, which is considered to be common in the convergence process of technology fusion toward the launch of new products based on cutting-edge technologies, is also observed in the field of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS).Our future work includes both the trilateral comparison by adding European and US patent datasets, and also, hybrid analyses by introducing external data such as R&D expenditures to investigate the validity and/or the application limit of the present analysis in the quantitative study of the dynamics of innovation.

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