THE USE OF PATENT TITLES FOR IDENTIFYING THE TOPICS OF INVENTION AND FORECASTING TRENDS

Co-word analysis applied to patents through WPIL normalized title words appears to give a useful picture of a given field: we obtain both qualitative (themes) and quantitative information (weight of themes). It also gives information about the strategic aspects of the themes. Furthermore, in some cases, it is an indication of the future of certain themes that may help forecasting and management studies. Finally, it provides information about what could be a real technology growth process, in relation to the so-called translation model used in co-word analysis.