Global Collaboration in Technology Sectors during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Patent Review

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

First, I would like to acknowledge this opportunity you have given me to review your paper. I am very honored to review your paper. 

 

Review comments

 

1.     This comment may be due to my lack of knowledge in this area of expertise but the in line 14, “the convergence structure between technologies and international technology trends” is a little hard to interpret since international technology and be categorized as technologies so what is the purpose of separating these wards? It might be better to just use the words “the convergence structures between international technology trends”.

 

2.     In line 19, it might be better to name the 5 countries if that is possible.

 

 

3.     In the abstract section, it is unclear that what is the difference between technology convergence and technological convergence. Moreover, in the technology convergence there were vaccine and medicine sectors. However, in the technological convergence had not sectors.

 

4.     In the introduction section, the line 36 needs quotation of WHO and the year since you have already put the data source of WHO.

 

5.     It is better to quote the number of deaths in the line 38.

 

6.     I think in the line 47 and 49, both Spanish flu and Hong Kong flu need a quotation to verify the number of deaths and the year when this pandemic happened.

 

7.     In the line 52, 53 as you mentioned that the number of research increased, if there are data or previous study which demonstrates the increase in the number of research might be better.

 

8.     In the line 50, the intext citation for the infectious data with H1N1 flu is missing.

 

9.     In line 57-60, I think it is better to cite this information since it might be deeply related to the current research aim.

 

10.   Between the line 62, and 63 the content switch from how it is difficult to meet the demand while needs declines as the production starts to policy implementation. I this these two contexts vary dramatically. Therefore, it might be better to separate these sentences and create bond sentences between them.

 

11.   In the line 94, 95 there was a phrase said, “some studies have examined”, which means it will need in-text citation.

 

12.   Line 95-99, the significant reason why analyzes the international collaboration regarding patent related to COVID-19, other than there is no study conducted might be needed.

 

13.   Line 194, 195, I think it is better to put the in-text citation since there is a word explaining that each word are representing the previous studies.

 

14.   In the methodology section, it is better to note which software to use, how to calculate the adjacency matrix and the definition of network, node, and edge is important.

 

15.   I think overall, most of the figure are hard to see. It is better to create new file.

 

16.   The line 404, 405, and 422, 423, 424, 425, the Table 5, and 6 contains the line number in the table.

 

17.   In line 298-302, what does having less single technology than converging technology mean? Maybe converging technology will be able to develop more innovative technology?

 

18.   It might be better to create each graph for 5 countries since other than USA, it is unable to see what the ratio and the graph is visualized.

 

19.   Line 345, A few no might be A few non US COVID-19 related patent applicants?

 

20.   In the Table 5, does A and C mean converging technology? And A mean single technology? If this is the case, it might be better to develop two sections to explain both converging and single technology.

 

21.   The line 413, 414 is hard to understand. So that 83% was applied by US and not Samsung Electronics. Maybe this sentence can be divided into two sentences?

 

22.   Table 6. Also have the line number in the table, this might need a little modification.

 

23.   Line 442. Thus, vaccines, treatment, and diagnosis technologies played a central role in ---, however the sentence prior to this did not explained countries including US, Korea, China, and Europe to apply as the most influential. Maybe same meaning but different words was presented?

 

24.   Line 453, the degree and closeness centralities were analyzed in the Table 8. There was no degree centrality. There are only between centrality and closeness centrality.

 

25.   Line 456, 457 it might be better to reconsider the definition of closeness centrality. Closeness centrality is the efficiency of connecting or communicating via other nodes. Therefore, it is not necessarily mean that it will “help to diffuse convergence”. This sentence can exist as an implication of the data but not directly explain the results. 

 

26.   Table 8 It might be better to insert the actual degree of each centrality to understand the different degree between countries as well as compare with each centrality.

 

27.   Line 465, the words mediate or significantly affect might be better to change the wording and explanations. Since it does mediates and it has some affecting happening between nodes. However, network analysis might not be suitable to examine whether there are significant effect or mediating variable because what network analysis shows is the degree of node in the network and it is hard to identify which nodes that one nodes are mediating or not.

 

28.   Line 467, A61L played a mediating role might not be appropriate way to explain. It might be better to mention that A61L has high degree of betweenness centrality.

 

29.   Line 532, the sentence of “wearing masks is the most effective way” might need in-text citation.

 

30.   Line 566, there is a . written in red.

 

31.   Line 569 there is a with a slash. a

32.   Line 573, “identified through network and quantitative analyses”. I think network analysis is quantitative analysis. And there was no qualitative analysis which I suppose you have mentioned in the introduction section?

 

33.   Line 574, it might better to cite the previous studies.

 

Please reconfirm careless mistakes, etc.

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 1 Comments

 

Review comments

 

1. This comment may be due to my lack of knowledge in this area of expertise but the in line 14, “the convergence structure between technologies and international technology trends” is a little hard to interpret since international technology and be categorized as technologies so what is the purpose of separating these wards? It might be better to just use the words “the convergence structures between international technology trends”.

 

Response 1:

Thank you for your comment. Your comment is right. We edited sentence clearly.

(line 14-15)

“This study aims to identify the international technology trends and convergence structure”

 

2. In line 19, it might be better to name the 5 countries if that is possible.

Response 2:

Thank you for your comment. The IP5 was established in 2007 as a consultative body of five patent offices in the US, Korea, China, Japan, and Europe. We added 5 countries into the abstract.

(line 19-20)

the intellectual property 5(IP5) countries(US, Korea, China, Japan, and Europe).

 

3. In the abstract section, it is unclear that what is the difference between technology convergence and technological convergence. Moreover, in the technology convergence there were vaccine and medicine sectors. However, in the technological convergence had not sectors.

Response 3:

Thank you for your comment. The results of Network analysis contain technology convergence between different biotechnologies such as C07K-A61K or A61K-C12N. We edited the sentence

(line 21-22)

Technology convergence has occurred between the fields of physics and biology or between different biotechnology sectors.

 

4. In the introduction section, the line 36 needs quotation of WHO and the year since you have already put the data source of WHO.

Response 4:

Thank you for your comment. We put the quotation in the line and write additionally in reference 1

(line 37) reference 1

“WHO. WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Available online: https://www.who.int/emergencies/ overview, WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. Available online: https://covid19.who.int/ (accessed on 15 April 2023).”

 

5. It is better to quote the number of deaths in the line 38.

Response 5:

Thank you for your comment. We put the quotation in the line 38.

(line 38) reference 1

“WHO. WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Available online: https://www.who.int/emergencies/ overview, WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. Available online: https://covid19.who.int/ (accessed on 15 April 2023).”

 

6. I think in the line 47 and 49, both Spanish flu and Hong Kong flu need a quotation to verify the number of deaths and the year when this pandemic happened.

Response 6:

Thank you for your comment. We put the quotation in the line 49,50,52

(line 49) reference 2

 “Erkoreka, A. Origins of the Spanish Influenza pandemic (1918–1920) and its relation to the First World War. Jour-nal of molecular and genetic medicine: an international journal of biomedical research, 2009, 3(2), 190.”

(line 50,52) reference 3

 “Dalekou, S.; Michaleas, S. N.; Tsitsika, A. K.; Karamanou, M. Comparative study of pandemics and their impact on children and adolescents: COVID-19 and Spanish Flu. Le Infezioni in Medicina 2023, 31(2), 131. ”

 

7. In the line 52, 53 as you mentioned that the number of research increased, if there are data or previous study which demonstrates the increase in the number of research might be better.

Response 7:

Thank you for your comment. We put the quotation in the line 54.

reference 4

“ Wood, J. M. Developing vaccines against pandemic influenza. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, 2001, 356(1416), 1953.”

reference 5

“ Webby, R. J., Perez, D. R., Coleman, J. S., Guan, Y., Knight, J. H., Govorkova, E. A., ... & Webster, R. G Responsive-ness to a pandemic alert: use of reverse genetics for rapid development of influenza vaccines. The Lancet, 2004, 363(9415), 1099-1103.”

reference 6

“ Memoli, M. J., Morens, D. M., & Taubenberger, J. K. Pandemic and seasonal influenza: therapeutic challenges. Drug discovery today, 2008, 13(13-14), 590-595.”

 

8. In the line 50, the intext citation for the infectious data with H1N1 flu is missing.

Response 8:

Thank you for your comment. We put the quotation in the line 52.

(line 52) reference 3

“Dalekou, S.; Michaleas, S. N.; Tsitsika, A. K.; Karamanou, M. Comparative study of pandemics and their impact on children and adolescents: COVID-19 and Spanish Flu. Le Infezioni in Medicina 2023, 31(2), 131.”

 

9. In line 57-60, I think it is better to cite this information since it might be deeply related to the current research aim.

Response 9:

Thank you for your comment. We put the quotation in the line 59 and 61.

(line 59) reference 8

Kaufmann, S. H.; McElrath, M. J.; Lewis, D. J.; & Del Giudice, G. Challenges and responses in human vaccine de-velopment. Current opinion in immunology 2014, 28, 18-26.

(line 61) reference 9

Oyston, P.; & Robinson, K. The current challenges for vaccine development. Journal of medical microbiology 2012, 61(7), 889-894.

 

10. Between the line 62, and 63 the content switch from how it is difficult to meet the demand while needs declines as the production starts to policy implementation. I this these two contexts vary dramatically. Therefore, it might be better to separate these sentences and create bond sentences between them.

Response 10:

Thank you for your comment. Your comment is right. We edtited sentence simply in the line 61-67. We hope that is not to disrupt context and to understand clearly.

“ Although research outcomes, including patent applications, increase during pandemic or epidemic periods, they tend to decrease as infectious diseases are controlled [10]. That why research on infectious diseases tends to be led by governments rather than private entities.”

 

11. In the line 94, 95 there was a phrase said, “some studies have examined”, which means it will need in-text citation.

Response 11:

Thank you for your comment. We put the quotation in the line 97-99.

(reference 30,28-31,36-37)

“. Some studies have examined COVID-19-related research and development (R&D) trends [30] or analyzed specific industries using patent information [28-31], as some researchers expect technology convergence to assist in overcoming the COVID-19 crisis [36-37].”

 

12. Line 95-99, the significant reason why analyzes the international collaboration regarding patent related to COVID-19, other than there is no study conducted might be needed.

Response 12:

Thank you for your comment. Your comment is right. We changed the sentence in the line 99-104.

“as some researchers expect technology convergence to assist in overcoming the COVID-19 crisis [36-37]. However, few studies have examined the technological development status of each country, the occurrence of actual technology convergence, or the convergence structure. However, there is no study to analyze the international collaboration regarding patent related to COVID-19.”

 

13. Line 194, 195, I think it is better to put the in-text citation since there is a word explaining that each word are representing the previous studies.

Response 13:

Thank you for your comment. We put the quotation in the line 198.

(line 198) reference 53-54

53. Hafeez, A., Ahmad, S., Siddqui, S. A., Ahmad, M., & Mishra, S. A review of COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease-2019) diagnosis, treatments and prevention. Ejmo, 2020, 4(2), 116-125.
54. Le, T. T., Andreadakis, Z., Kumar, A., Román, R. G., Tollefsen, S., Saville, M., & Mayhew, S. The COVID-19 vaccine development landscape. Nat Rev Drug Discov, 2020, 19(5), 305-306.

 

14. In the methodology section, it is better to note which software to use, how to calculate the adjacency matrix and the definition of network, node, and edge is important.

Response 14:

Thank you for your comment. We explained in the line 261-262,284,286-289.

(line 261-262) “ A node is patent IPC code and a edge presents co-occur. Network is used to present the relationship among nodes using links.”

(line 284) “ Gephi open-source software(0.9.2)”

(line 286-289) “ Degree centrality is a measure of the number of other nodes to which a node is directly connected, betweenness centrality is a measure of how well a node is connected to other nodes, and closeness centrality is a measurement of how short the distance is from one node to others.”

 

15. I think overall, most of the figure are hard to see. It is better to create new file.

Response 15:

Thank you for your comment. We edited more larger and clearly in the line 320-321,336-339. We hope it will look well. 

 

16. The line 404, 405, and 422, 423, 424, 425, the Table 5, and 6 contains the line number in the table.

Response 16:

Thank you for your kindly comment. We checked and fixed.

 

17. In line 298-302, what does having less single technology than converging technology mean? Maybe converging technology will be able to develop more innovative technology?

Response 17:

Thank you for your comment. We arithmetically checked single and converging patent by country. Single technology is composed same IPC section and converging technology is composed different IPC section.

Accordding to reference 43, the converging technology has a wider scope but requires more effort to develop than does non-converging technology. During pandemic, each country has developed technologies dependence on situation. Therefore, It may be that convergent technology is more novel in general than does non-convergent technology.(line 308)

Reference 43

“Jeong, S., Kim, J. C., & Choi, J. Y. Technology convergence: What developmental stage are we in ? Scientometrics, 2015, 104, 841-871.”

 

18. It might be better to create each graph for 5 countries since other than USA, it is unable to see what the ratio and the graph is visualized.

Response 18:

Thank you for your comment. We separated graph US and other country in the line 320,321.

 

19. Line 345, A few no might be A few non US COVID-19 related patent applicants?

 

Response 19:

Thank you for your kind comment. You are right. We fixed that in the line 352.

 

20. In the Table 5, does A and C mean converging technology? And A mean single technology? If this is the case, it might be better to develop two sections to explain both converging and single technology.

Response 20:

Thank you for your comment. That is right what you understand. We divided two section(single and converging technology) Table 5. to understand easily (line 410).

 

21. The line 413, 414 is hard to understand. So that 83% was applied by US and not Samsung Electronics. Maybe this sentence can be divided into two sentences?

Response 21:

Thank you for your comment. Your comment is right. We edited and divided the sentence more clearly in the line 416-418.

“Samsung Electronics applied 7 patents that is most single technologies. Their patents are sections G, H, and A in the ICT and digital technology sectors”

 

22. Table 6. Also have the line number in the table, this might need a little modification.

Response 22:

Thank you for your comment. We checked that in the line 425.

 

23. Line 442. Thus, vaccines, treatment, and diagnosis technologies played a central role in ---, however the sentence prior to this did not explained countries including US, Korea, China, and Europe to apply as the most influential. Maybe same meaning but different words was presented?

Response 23:

Thank you for your comment. As we mentioned line 459-462, the A61K and C07K IPC subclass code are related pharmaceuticals, antibodies, interferon technologies and vaccines, treatment, and diagnosis technologies contain pharmaceuticals, antibodies, interferon technologies. So we described that vaccines, treatment, and diagnosis technologies played a central role in converged patents in the US, Korea, China, and Europe.

 

24. Line 453, the degree and closeness centralities were analyzed in the Table 8. There was no degree centrality. There are only between centrality and closeness centrality.

Response 24:

Thank you for your comment. We mentioned previously that a high weighted-degree centrality value toward a node indicated a high level of influence within the network in the line 434, 435.

We put the result of degree centrality in the line 448-449. We fixed a word as betweenness instead of degree in the line 449 as well.

 

25. Line 456, 457 it might be better to reconsider the definition of closeness centrality. Closeness centrality is the efficiency of connecting or communicating via other nodes. Therefore, it is not necessarily mean that it will “help to diffuse convergence”. This sentence can exist as an implication of the data but not directly explain the results. 

Response 25:

Thank you for your comment. We edited the sentence in the line 453.

“ a high closeness centrality node is the most connecting or communicating via other nodes. “

 

26. Table 8 It might be better to insert the actual degree of each centrality to understand the different degree between countries as well as compare with each centrality.

Response 26:

Thank you for your comment. We put insert the actual results Table 8(line 455).

We thank you once again for your careful review.

 

27. Line 465, the words mediate or significantly affect might be better to change the wording and explanations. Since it does mediates and it has some affecting happening between nodes. However, network analysis might not be suitable to examine whether there are significant effect or mediating variable because what network analysis shows is the degree of node in the network and it is hard to identify which nodes that one nodes are mediating or not.

Response 27:

Thank you for your comment. We edited the sentence in the line 462.

“ respectively, is high closeness centrality, which promoted the spread of convergence. “

 

28. Line 467, A61L played a mediating role might not be appropriate way to explain. It might be better to mention that A61L has high degree of betweenness centrality.

Response 28:

Thank you for your comment. We edited sentence simply in the line 464,465

“ Accordingly, A61L has high degree of betweenness centrality. “

 

29. Line 532, the sentence of “wearing masks is the most effective way” might need in-text citation.

Response 29:

Thank you for your comment. put the quotation reference 74, 75 in the line 529.

74. Biddlestone, M.; Green, R.; Douglas, K.M. Cultural orientation, power, belief in conspiracy theories, and inten-tions to reduce the spread of COVID‐19. Br. J. Soc. Psychol. 2020, 59(3), 663–673.
75. Kang, M.H.; Jeong, C.; Na, J. COVID-19 and face masks: East-west cultural differences in wearing face masks in public. Korean J. Soc. Pers. Psychol. 2021, 35(4), 77–103.

 

30. Line 566, there is a . written in red.

Response 30:

Thank you for your comment. We fixed in the line 562. Thank for your kind.

 

31. Line 569 there is a with a slash. A

Response 31:

Thank you for your comment. We fixed in the line 565. Thank for your kind.

 

32. Line 573, “identified through network and quantitative analyses”. I think network analysis is quantitative analysis. And there was no qualitative analysis which I suppose you have mentioned in the introduction section?

Response 32:

Thank you for your comment. Our meaning was that quantitative analyses was a basicarithmetic statistics as international patent status analysis. We edited the sentence in the line 572.

“ identified through network and basic analyses”

 

33. Line 574, it might better to cite the previous studies.

Response 33:

Thank you for your comment. We put the quotation in the line and reference 28,29,31,32,33,34,

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

An excellent paper, but one area of clarification is the concept of submitting patent applications to WIPO, which is the basis of statistical analysis. Patent applications are not submitted to WIPO. It is not a patent office. Under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications are submitted to patent offices in home countries. Using the PCT other countries can be designated in which the applications may also apply. WIPO provides a service in securing reports to examine applications for novelty, inventiveness and utility which are made available to designated countries.

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 2

An excellent paper, but one area of clarification is the concept of submitting patent applications to WIPO, which is the basis of statistical analysis. Patent applications are not submitted to WIPO. It is not a patent office. Under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications are submitted to patent offices in home countries. Using the PCT other countries can be designated in which the applications may also apply. WIPO provides a service in securing reports to examine applications for novelty, inventiveness and utility which are made available to designated countries.

Response 1:

Thank you for your comment. You are right. That you mentioned, WIPO is not a patent office. For the patent database related to COVID-19, We firstly searched patents related to COVID-19 at WIPO patentscope website. Second, we searched and confirmed patents with COVID-19 at website of USPTO(United States Patent and Trademark Office), EPO(European Patent Office), KIPO( Korean Intellectual Property Office), JPO (Japan Patent Office).

The reason why we exceped PCT is that PCT patents are given 30 months from application to designation by each country, they were excluded from this study, which targeted patents applied within two years of the COVID-19 outbreak. We edited the sentence in the line 214-220.

” For the patent database related to COVID-19, We firstly searched patents related to COVID-19 at WIPO patentscope website. Second, we searched and confirmed patents with COVID-19 at website of USPTO(United States Patent and Trademark Office), EPO(European Patent Office), KIPO(Korean Intellectual Property Office), JPO(Japan Patent Office).”

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

1. A brief summary:

Interesting work. The technology convergence regarding Covid-19 infectious disease is studied using patent applications submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) between 2020 and 2022.

It's contribution will help to establish new directions in order to face other infectious diseases that might come up in the future.     2. General concept comments: Literature is fine; said that the following paper could be added:   Jeong, S., Kim, J. C., & Choi, J. Y. (2015). Technology convergence: What developmental stage are we in?. Scientometrics, 104, 841-871.   Methods & Analysis are OK. The Author(s) could consider outlining/incorporating lines of further research, esp. with the use of more quantitative methods to analyze their data.     3. Specific comments:

Table 3. (and also Table7. & Table 8.) need reshaping since exit the pre-defined margins.

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 3

1. A brief summary:

Interesting work. The technology convergence regarding Covid-19 infectious disease is studied using patent applications submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) between 2020 and 2022. It's contribution will help to establish new directions in order to face other infectious diseases that might come up in the future.  

Response 1:

Thank you for your comment. You are right. That you mentioned, WIPO is not a patent office. For the patent database related to COVID-19, We firstly searched patents related to COVID-19 at WIPO patentscope website. Second, we searched and confirmed patents with COVID-19 at website of USPTO(United States Patent and Trademark Office), EPO(European Patent Office), KIPO( Korean Intellectual Property Office), JPO (Japan Patent Office).We edited the sentence in the line 214-220.

” For the patent database related to COVID-19, We firstly searched patents related to COVID-19 at WIPO patentscope website. Second, we searched and confirmed patents with COVID-19 at website of USPTO(United States Patent and Trademark Office), EPO(European Patent Office), KIPO(Korean Intellectual Property Office), JPO(Japan Patent Office).”

2. General concept comments: Literature is fine; said that the following paper could be added:   Jeong, S., Kim, J. C., & Choi, J. Y. (2015). Technology convergence: What developmental stage are we in?. Scientometrics, 104, 841-871.   Methods & Analysis are OK. The Author(s) could consider outlining/incorporating lines of further research, esp. with the use of more quantitative methods to analyze their data.

Response 2:

Thank you for your comment. We checked the paper as you recommended. That paper defined technology convergence as inter-sector convergence and inter-field convergence. Our study was mainly focused on inter-sector convergence using IPC as you know. We added the paper that you recommend on reference and put the quotation in the line 164. For further research, We will analysis inter-field convergence compared with current research result. We appreciate you.

Reference 43

“43. Jeong, S., Kim, J. C., & Choi, J. Y. Technology convergence: What developmental stage are we in ? Scientometrics, 2015, 104, 841-871.”

 

3. Specific comments:

Table 3. (and also Table7. & Table 8.) need reshaping since exit the pre-defined margins.

Response 3:

Thank you for your comment. We arranged Table 3., Table7. and Table 8. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors have responded to the reviewer's concerns and comments and the manuscript has been much improved.

Author Response

Prof. Marc A. Rosen

Editor-in-Chief

Sustainability

Dear Prof. Marc A. Rosen and Reviewers

 

I wish to submit a paper for publication in Sustainability, titled “Global Collaboration in Technology Sectors during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Patent Review.” The paper was coauthored by Eunsook Jeon.

We have faithfully edited manuscript according to the reviewer's opinion and paper is getting much better. We heartily thank all the comments and coordination again.

Thank for your consideration of our manuscript. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Sincerely,

Keuntae Cho

Department of System Management Engineering & Graduate School of Management of Technology Sungkyunkwan University, Chunchundong 300, Suwon 16419, Korea

Tel.: +82-031-290 -7602

Fax.: +82-031-290 -7610

ktcho@skku.edu

 

 

 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

One small point. WIPO does not run a patent registration service. It runs a patent registration facilitation service. It connects applicants with registries.

Author Response

Prof. Marc A. Rosen

Editor-in-Chief

Sustainability

Dear Prof. Marc A. Rosen and Reviewers

 

I wish to submit a paper for publication in Sustainability, titled “Global Collaboration in Technology Sectors during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Patent Review.” The paper was coauthored by Eunsook Jeon.

We have faithfully edited manuscript according to the reviewer's opinion and paper is getting much better. We heartily thank all the comments and coordination again.

Thank for your consideration of our manuscript. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Sincerely,

Keuntae Cho

Department of System Management Engineering & Graduate School of Management of Technology Sungkyunkwan University, Chunchundong 300, Suwon 16419, Korea

Tel.: +82-031-290 -7602

Fax.: +82-031-290 -7610

ktcho@skku.edu

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reviewer 2 proposed one small suggestion that “WIPO does not run a patent registration service. It runs a patent registration facilitation service. It connects applicants with registries”. Please address this matter or correct them. 

 

Response 1:

Thank you for your suggestion. Our paper is getting much better as your review.

As you mentioned, WIPO doesn’t run a patent registration service and shows international patents using networking each national patent office at WIPO patentscope website. (https://www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/)

 

We edited sentence in the line 205-210 and figure 1.

“For the patent database related to COVID-19, We firstly searched patents related to COVID-19 at WIPO patentscope website. We searched patents with COVID-19 again at website of USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office), EPO (European Patent Office), KIPO (Korean Intellectual Property Office) and JPO (Japan Patent Office) on based WIPO patentscope website offering information.”

We heartily thank all the comments and coordination again.

 

Additionally, we would like to share several papers related WIPO as refernce.

(WIPO Related Paper 1)

Francis, N., Ong, A., Suhaimi, H., & Abas, P. E. (2023). Patent Landscape Review on Ankle Sprain Prevention Method: Technology Updates. Inventions, 8(2), 53.

A systematic search of patent documents via the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s PATENTSCOPE (https://patentscope.wipo.int/, accessed on 5 September 2020) has been conducted from the earliest archives to 5 September 2020.

 

(WIPO Related Paper 2)

Fatimi, A. (2022). Sodium tetradecyl sulfate molecule: Patent analysis based on chemical compounds search. Engineering Proceedings, 19(1), 4.

Materials and Methods

The study of the STS molecule patents presented hereinafter was conducted on the Patentscope’s “Chemical Compounds Search”, which is a service provided by the WIPO.

 

(WIPO Related Paper 3)

Feng, L., Niu, Y., Liu, Z., Wang, J., & Zhang, K. (2019). Discovering technology opportunity by keyword-based patent analysis: a hybrid approach of morphology analysis and USIT. Sustainability, 12(1), 136.

WIPO PatentScope is selected as the data source, which records many countries’ patents, including China, the Russian Federation, the United States, etc. The PatentScope database provides access to international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications in full-text format on the day of publication, as well as the patent documents of participating national and regional patent offices. Thus, numerous patent documents from worldwide patent databases can be collected in WIPO PatentScope, and valuable information can be derived automatically.

 

(WIPO Related Paper 4)

Bostrom, A., & Nayyar, S. (2023). Fit for purpose? The patents regime, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and sustainable development. Data & Policy, 5, e18.

2. Data Sources

We utilized the World Bank DataBank for examining patent inequalities across all technologies. This database also allowed us to analyze inequalities in research and development expenditure and the number of researchers by country, indicators for Target 5 of Sustainable Development Goal 9. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) PATENTSCOPE database was most useful for understanding the disparity in COVID-19 vaccine-related patents due to its keyword search. We used the inventor country and applicant country data to understand the geographic trends. Finally, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Data Warehouse includes the number of triadic patents (defined as those filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), European Patent Office (EPO), and Japanese Patent Office (JPO)) for the last several decades, drawn from the EPO’s PATSTAT database.

Reviewer 3 Report

Thank you for revising the manuscript which has significantly improved. Please note that some Tables still need (minor) editing to fit within the margins.

Author Response

Prof. Marc A. Rosen

Editor-in-Chief

Sustainability

Dear Prof. Marc A. Rosen and Reviewers

 

I wish to submit a paper for publication in Sustainability, titled “Global Collaboration in Technology Sectors during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Patent Review.” The paper was coauthored by Eunsook Jeon.

We have faithfully edited manuscript according to the reviewer's opinion and paper is getting much better. We heartily thank all the comments and coordination again.

Thank for your consideration of our manuscript. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Sincerely,

Keuntae Cho

Department of System Management Engineering & Graduate School of Management of Technology Sungkyunkwan University, Chunchundong 300, Suwon 16419, Korea

Tel.: +82-031-290 -7602

Fax.: +82-031-290 -7610

ktcho@skku.edu

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reviewer 3

Thank you for revising the manuscript which has significantly improved.

Please note that some Tables still need (minor) editing to fit within the margins.

Response 1:

Thank you for your comment. Our paper is getting much better as your review.

We checked Table again and modified to fit within the margins.

We heartily thank all the comments and coordination again.