Abstract
The progress of technology increases the average human lifespan. A rise in aging population drives the value of the medical equipment market increases rapidly. According the marketing report, the value of the medical equipment market is US$ 300 billion in 2012, and it is forecasted to reach US$ 430 billion in 2017 (Global Information, Inc., 2012). The rapid growth of medical equipment market indicates that it has great potential for developing. During the period from 1995 to 2008, the volume of patent applications in medical technology increased rapidly worldwide. Computer science, electrical machinery, pharmaceuticals and digital communication also accounted for the large share of total growth (World Intellectual Property Organization, 2011). Patent analysis is useful to understand the trend of technology development. However, the huge volume of patents is hard to analyze effectively and efficiency. In addition, clinical trial on patients must be performed to validate that the new medical equipment is efficacious. The purpose of this study is to analyze emerging medical equipment developments and marketing directions, and a methodology which combines patent analysis with clinical trials is proposed in this study. Knowledge discovering, ontology and meta-analysis are used to extract the useful information from patent documents and clinical trials. This study will use the dental implant technical domain as case study to understand the medical technology market trends.