Tracing knowledge flows in innovation systems - An informetric perspective on future research on science-based innovation

This paper gives an overview of informetric approaches to studying the science-technology linkage. Informetrics can be understood as the application of mathematical and statistical methods to the information process in science and technology-oriented activities. A number of theoretical contributions over the past few years in the area of innovation studies emphasize the exchange of actors in innovation systems and a shift in the division of labour between publicly funded research and industrial development of technology. Based on a review of informetric literature in the area, the paper derives a typology of three informetric approaches to study the science/technology linkage - namely analyses of patent citations, industrial publications, and university patenting. For each approach, merits and possible disadvantages are discussed. The results from studies of the Finnish innovation system are used to illustrate advantages and disadvantages of the three approaches.