In a knowledge-based society, innovation activities through knowledge creation determine the competitiveness of a country and region. Therefore, efforts are being made worldwide to foster intellectual property, which is a representative indicator of k...
In a knowledge-based society, innovation activities through knowledge creation determine the competitiveness of a country and region. Therefore, efforts are being made worldwide to foster intellectual property, which is a representative indicator of knowledge creation and innovation outcomes. In order to have a more substantial understanding of the patterns of intellectual property creation, it is crucial to analyze which regions are actively experiencing knowledge creation and growth.
The purpose of this study was to derive the trend line of the number of intellectual property applications from 2012 to 2021 through regression analysis, and to analyze the spatial analysis of the trend of intellectual property increase and decrease using the slope of the trend line and the factors influencing it. The main results of the study are as follows.
First, overall intellectual property is being filed mainly in Seoul and Gyeonggi, and the growth trend is also rapidly increasing in the capital region. However, different patterns were observed depending on the type of intellectual property, with patents showing a localized increase in Seoul and its surrounding areas, and a decrease in several areas within Seoul. On the other hand, trademarks showed a stronger growth trend centered in Seoul compared to patents. Through this, it can be seen that the growth of knowledge creation activities is taking place within a limited spatial range, and there are differences in growth patterns depending on the characteristics of intellectual property.
Second, the number of urban railway stations, which is an indicator of the accessibility of public transportation, showed a significant correlation with the trend of trademark registration. This suggests that the development of public transportation, which was highly derived from the service industry, had a significant impact on the trend of trademark registration.
Third, the higher the ratio of knowledge-based service industry workers among the variables of knowledge-based industries, the higher the growth of trademark rights in the region. The growth trend of knowledge-based service industry was significant in both patents and trademark rights. This suggests that the growth of knowledge-based service industry is closely related to knowledge creation. However, the growth trend of knowledge-based manufacturing industry resulted in opposite outcomes in patents and trademark rights. In regions where knowledge-based manufacturing industry is growing, the growth of patents is accompanied by a decrease in trademark rights. This can be interpreted as the locational characteristics of knowledge-based service industry, which is based on research activities, being different from production-oriented patent growth regions.
Fourth, it was found that trademark applications are more active in areas where a large number of large corporations are concentrated. This is because the larger the size of the company, the larger the scale of capital investment in research and development, which appears to be advantageous for generating knowledge.
Through these research results, it was possible to see that factors influencing the growth trend of knowledge creation activities vary depending on the type and characteristics of intellectual property. However, considering that knowledge-based service industries are commonly considered important factors in the growth of knowledge creation activities, it suggests the need for nurturing policies for strategic industries linked to knowledge-based services in each region.