Patent-Based Analysis of China’s Emergency Logistics Industry Convergence

Abstract

Technology and innovation have promoted industry convergence and brought new opportunities for industrial development, and a degree of convergence exists in the emergency logistics industry. The purpose of this study is to explore the convergence of the emergency logistics industry and the change in convergence degree among related industries, so as to find a solution to the lack of robustness of the emergency logistics system. This study measures the technical relationship between industries and analyzes the overall trend of emergency logistics industry convergence using the consistency between patent co-classification analysis and patent categories and technical fields. The dominance index and relative strength index are used to assess the strength of industry nodes and the convergence of the emergency logistics industry. Social network analysis is used to investigate the industries and technical fields that are important in the convergence industry. The findings indicate that there is significant convergence between the technical fields of the emergency logistics industry. Twelve industries are actively involved in the emergency logistics industry convergence, and nine industry pairs have strong convergence relationships between them. The information industry is critical to the convergence of the emergency logistics industry. Industry convergence is assisting in the coordinated growth of the emergency logistics sector, lowering informational barriers between sectors, and boosting the system’s resilience. This study contributes theoretical significance to the development of the emergency logistics industry and enriches the emergency logistics industry’s research system.