Entropy-Based Patent Valuation: Decoding “Costly Signals” in the Food Industry via a Robust Entropy–TOPSIS Framework

Accurate patent valuation remains a persistent challenge in intellectual property management, particularly in the food industry, where technological homogeneity and rapid innovation cycles introduce substantial noise into observable performance indicators. Traditional valuation approaches, whether based on subjective expert judgment or citation-based metrics, often struggle to effectively reduce information uncertainty in this context. To address this limitation, this study proposes an objective, data-driven patent valuation framework grounded in information theory. We construct a multidimensional evaluation system comprising nine indicators across technological, legal, and economic dimensions and apply it to a large-scale dataset of 100,648 invention patents. To address the heavy-tailed nature of patent indicators without sacrificing the information contained in high-impact outliers, we introduce a square-root transformation strategy that stabilizes dispersion while preserving ordinal relationships. Indicator weights are determined objectively via Shannon entropy, capturing the relative scarcity and discriminatory information content of each signal, after which comprehensive value scores are derived using the TOPSIS method. Empirical results reveal that the entropy-based model assigns dominant weights to so-called “costly signals”, specifically PCT applications (29.53%) and patent transfers (24.36%). Statistical correlation analysis confirms that these selected indicators are significantly associated with patent value ($p<0.001$), while bootstrapping tests demonstrate the robustness of the resulting weight structure. The model’s validity is further evaluated using an external benchmark (“ground truth”) dataset comprising 55 patents recognized by the China Patent Award. The proposed framework demonstrates substantially stronger discriminatory capability than baseline methods, awarded patents achieve an average score 2.64 times higher than that of ordinary patents, and the enrichment factor for award-winning patents within the Top-100 ranking reaches 91.5. Additional robustness analyses, including benchmarking against the Weighted Sum Model (WSM), further confirm the methodological stability of the framework, with sensitivity analysis revealing an exceptional enrichment factor of 183.1 for the Top-50 patents. These findings confirm that the Entropy–TOPSIS framework functions as an effective information-filtering mechanism, amplifying high-value patent signals in noise-intensive environments. Consequently, the proposed model serves as a generalizable and theoretically grounded tool for objective patent valuation, with particular relevance to industries characterized by heavy-tailed data and high information uncertainty.