產業發展中所需不同知識的相依性與時間軌跡：以個人電腦產業為例

Abstract

本研究以個人電腦產業作為研究個案，探討產業中知識發展的相依性以及時間軌跡。從個人電腦專利資料中隨機抽取與1980年到2004年間個人電腦相關之1001筆專利作為研究樣本，這些樣本以他們與個人電腦產業技術重要性由高到低，分類為「核心類專利」、「功能擴充類專利」、「配件零組件類專利」、「外型樣式類專利」以及「應用類專利」。研究發現從專利分布情況可以看出個人電腦產業發展過程中，與個人電腦的外型與核心技術知識會先行於與個人電腦關鍵性較為低零件類的知識類型出現，並且促發與個人電腦相關的應用類知識；擁有個人電腦核心技術及功能擴充相關專利的幾乎在個人電腦市場為個人電腦主要廠商，非個人電腦產業之主要廠商或個人研發者則在個人電腦零件及應用類專利上為主要研發者。

The development of an industry depends on various types of knowledge accumulated through R&D. Some knowledge is more basic and critical for the development of an industry while some is a result of applications of such critical knowledge. To understand how knowledge emerged and developed in an industry, we examined the time course of emergence of different types of patents in PC industry. One thousand and one patents were sampled from US patent database. These patents were classified into five knowledge groups that differ in criticality to the development of PC: critical to PC technology, functional expansion of PC, accessory and parts, style design, and application of PC technology. The results showed that more critical patents appeared early and those who possessed such patents would have an advanatage in PC industry. Those that did not possess the ability to generate knowledge critical to PC industry developed patents primarily in the areas of PC accessories or parts, or PC applications. In addition, critical knowledge that spilled from filing patents tended to exert a greater influence on the development of new patents.