Technology fusion: Identification and analysis of the drivers of technology convergence using patent data

• Empirical identification of new fusions as first co-occurrences of IPC subclasses at EPO.
• Duration models investigate how technology characteristics affect the likelihood of new fusions.
• Converging fields are more likely to merge.
• Complex technologies are less likely to merge.
• Wider technology scope and propensity to collaborate are positively related to new fusions.

The concepts of technology convergence or technology fusion describe the phenomenon of technology overlap. Despite evidence of the higher value associated to interdisciplinary research and cross-industry innovation, few studies have investigated the characteristics of technology fusion based on patent data. This study identifies new cases of convergence relying on the International Patent Classification (IPC) of patents filed at the European Patent Office between 1991 and 2007: the first occurrence of a patent incorporating a combination of IPC subclasses signals a new instance of fusion. Duration models are employed to investigate the impact of field level characteristics derived from patent bibliometrics on the likelihood of identifying a new fusion. The results show that merges are more frequent if the focal technology fields are closely related (based on a higher number of cross citations), are characterized by wide technological scope, and are the result of an inter-firm collaboration. In contrast to previous findings, the results show that the more complex the technologies involved, the less the likelihood of their convergence or fusion. The correlation between fusion likelihood and the characteristics of the merging fields could help managers and policymakers to predict the emergence of new technology areas.