Abstract
To study the critical technology in the industry, two approaches are frequently used. One is by using the statistic approach to find the general market trend analysis. Another is by analyzing the patent files to predict the future technology trend. However, there are two disadvantaged of the market trend analysis. First, the result is only valid in the current technology. Second, the data have limited timeliness. The patent analysis can be used to predict emerging trends and identify research opportunities. But the connection between technology and the commercialized applications are still limited. Moreover, companies nowadays not only provide the actual products but the whole business service process to offer the customer total solution package. This research uses the ontology as the basis of the knowledge domain and incorporates innovative business process modeling with patent portfolio analysis. With the computer supported tools, the strategic patent technology classification and the global competitors’ analysis are studied. The invisible orthodontic brace industry is used to demonstrate the proposed methodology. The critical technologies are classified into the business process. The other competitors’ patent are, then, benchmarked in the same business process patent portfolios. The comparison shows the technology focus of each company, which also indicates the technology trends of the companies and their patent portfolios. The methodology provides micro-analytics for comparing the patent portfolios from the business process perspectives to enhance the efficiency of the R&D research.