Wu Yakun,Yuan Hongmei

(School of Business Administration,Shenyang Pharmaceutical University(Shenyang 110016,China)

Abstract Objective To study the innovation and cooperation of bio-pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province and to provide some suggestions for the government to formulate innovation policies for the development of this industry.Methods Comparative analysis and social network analysis methods were applied to conduct an empirical analysis of industrial innovative development based on the patent data of bio-pharmaceuticals for nearly 10 years.Results and Conclusion The number of patents in bio-pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province is on the rise overall,but it slowed down in recent years.The status of research institutions and universities in innovative cooperation is high,but the overall cooperation among them is relatively loose.In order to promote the innovation and development of bio-pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning,it is necessary to take it as a pillar industry.Meanwhile,importance should be attached to the protection of innovative patents of companies,and industrial clusters should be actively built to promote synergy within the industry.

Keywords:bio-pharmacy;innovation;patent

In recent years,many countries,including China,have placed bio-pharmaceuticals in a strategic position,while the current bio-pharmaceutical market is still dominated by a few developed countries.As our government attaches great importance to the bio-pharmaceutical industry,the potentials of bio-pharmaceuticals can be realized soon.Biopharmaceuticals will occupy the dominant position in the economy in the future.

Liaoning Province faced the pressure of industrial upgrading in the last few years.The development of bio-pharmaceutical industry can effectively promote the transformation of economic model and further upgrade the industrial structure[1].Liaoning Province has many bio-pharmaceutical companies,and the government of Liaoning Province takes the development of medical science and technology to revitalize pharmaceutical industry as an important way.

To promote the development of the biopharmaceutical industry,we must vigorously adhere to the innovation-first strategy.Because innovation is the original driving force to catch up with the development of advanced nations.

There fore,this paper takes thebio pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province as a sample.The combination of qualitative and quantitative methods is used to explore the innovation of bio-pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province from the perspective of patents.Then we can provide inspiration for the innovation-driven strategy of biopharmaceutical industry.

1 Literature review

Bio-pharmaceuticals,in fact,are methods to use interdisciplinary knowledge such as biology,microbiology,and medicine comprehensively to produce drugs[2].That is the application of biotechnology in the field of pharmacy.At present,the status quo of China's bio-pharmaceutical industry is not good as the government does not give support to the industry[3].Besides,the gap between the technological level of the local companies and the advanced nations is large,which limits the development of the industry[4].Therefore,the scale of the whole industry in China is small.In recent years,As China takes bio-pharmaceutical as a hightech pillar industry,a number of bio-pharmaceutical industry parks have been built,and the overall innovation strength of the industry has been enhanced.

The output of patents can truly reflect the achievements of industrial innovation[5].Because patent information can objectively and directly show the development of industrial technology and the trend of regional superior technology[6].The method of analyzing industrial innovation and development with patent information has been applied in many fields,such as Deng Heping's analysis of the patent application of the oil and gas industry in Sichuan Province[7].Liu Yan et al.carried out patent information analysis in the field of traditional Chinese medicine[8].It plays an important role in studying the detailed situation of innovation development of related industries.

Therefore,from the perspective of patents,the overall innovation of bio-pharmaceutical industry and industrial research cooperation in Liaoning Province is investigated by means of patent information analysis.It aims to further explore the innovation-driven countermeasures of bio-pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province.

2 Data

The patent data in this paper is retrieved from the IncoPat patent database.According to the version of the technical classification table issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)in 2008,it refers to a total of 22 bio-pharmaceutical patent IPC classification numbers,including A01H1/00,A61K38/00,A61K39/00,and A61K48/00,etc.At the same time,it combines biopharmaceutical related keywords such as gene,enzyme,cell,protein,peptide,serum,nucleic acid,and amino acid,etc.Due to the lag period caused by the patent application process,the search period is limited to 10 years (from 2007 to 2016).Some patent data that does not conform to the basic concepts of bio-pharmaceutical is deleted manually.

3 Patent analysis of innovation in biopharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province

As an old industrial base,Liaoning has abundant resources.Many bio-pharmaceutical companies have settled in Liaoning Province.The Liaoning provincial government has taken the development of medicinal science and technology and the revitalization of the pharmaceutical industry as an important pillar because it has sufficient potential to develop this industry.Therefore,multiple incentives have been adopted to promote the development of the bio-pharmaceutical industry.The government's emphasis on innovation and R&D has a profound impact on the improvement of the strength of enterprises.

Patents can effectively reflect the industrial innovation for patent information can show the R&D output within the industry.Patent activities can not only indicate the strategic layout of the industry's innovation and development,but also reflect the focus of industrial R&D and predict the future trend.

3.1 Analysis of the number of patents in biopharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province

3.1.1 Analysis of the quantity of patent applications

Among the patent data retrieved in this paper,there were 156 638 bio-pharmaceutical patents applied nationwide from 2007 to 2016,and the provinces with the number of patent applications in the top ten are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Number of bio-pharmaceutical patent applications TOP 10

Beijing (19 450 patents),Jiangsu (17 139 patents)and Guangdong (12 678 patents)are the top three Provinces in the past decade,accounting for 12.42%,10.94% and 8.10% of the national bio-pharmaceutical-related patents,respectively.Liaoning Province has 2 736 applications for biopharmaceutical patents,accounting for only 1.75%,far lower than the more advanced regions such as Beijing and Jiangsu.Therefore,the independent innovation capability of the industry needs to be further improved in Liaoning.The comparison of the number of patent applications between Liaoning Province and the top three provinces is shown in Figure 1.

Fig.1 Comparison of patents between Liaoning and other provinces

3.1.2 Analysis of patent licensing and patent enforcement rate

As shown in Figure 2,the number of patent applications in Liaoning Province generally increased before 2013,and the number of applications has gradually stabilized in recent years,with slight fluctuations.In addition,the proportion of patents granted before 2011 was not high.After 2011,the proportion of patent grants increased but it was not stable enough.In 2016,there was a decline.The proportion of patents granted can effectively measure the quality of patents.The proportion of patent applications and grants in Liaoning Province began to change,and the proportion of licenses began to grow rapidly.But from 2019 it began to slow down or even reverse.

In terms of patent conversion rate,according to the information on the bibliographic data,199 of the 2 736 bio-pharmaceutical-related patents accumulated in Liaoning Province in the past decade have been transferred,accounting for only 7.3% of the total number of patents.The efficiency of patent conversion is very low.The value of patented technology needs to be improved.The lack of high-quality patents is one of the reasons for the low patent conversion rate.

Above all,the innovation patent status of biopharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province is constantly improved,but the growth is unstable and the patent conversion rate is low.The innovation and development of bio-pharmaceutical industry has been slow in recent years.

3.1.3 Regional distribution of patents

The analysis of the distribution of patents can reflect the areas where bio-pharmaceutical industry has development advantages and strong industrial competitiveness in Liaoning Province.Figure 2 shows the distribution of patents in bio-pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province.

Fig.3 Regional distributions of patents in Liaoning Province

As can be seen from Figure 3,the distributions of patents in bio-pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province is relatively concentrated,The number of bio-pharmaceutical patents in Dalian (1 649 patents,accounting for 60.3% of the Liaoning Province's patents)and Shenyang (885 patents,accounting for 32.3% of the Liao Province's patents)are in the top two.The other regions have a small proportion,with a total of 202 patents,accounting for only 7.4%.Overall,the bio-pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province is mainly concentrated in Dalian and Shenyang,showing a clear industrial cluster.At present,the United States and Europe,which are far ahead in bio-pharmaceutical industry,also have the characteristics of a high degree of industrial cluster.It plays an important role in promoting the flow of technical knowledge and improving the industrial chain of bio-pharmaceutical industry.

3.2 Analysis of patent cooperation in biopharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province

3.2.1 Analysis of the subject of patent applications

As shown in Figure 4,there are mainly 5 types of bio-pharmaceutical patent applicants in Liaoning Province.Among the 5 types of applicants,university,research institution and company hold the dominant position.According to Figure 5,among the patents applied for in the past 10 years,the number of the 5 main types of applicants is on the rise,especially universities and research institutes have the upward trend after 2011.This is due to the special innovative nature of bio-pharmaceutical industry itself[9].This industry relies heavily on technological inventions.Because research institutes and universities of higher learning are the leaders of innovation[10],they often control most of the industry-leading technologies.Therefore,enterprises choose to cooperate with these two organizations most.Under the premise of saving certain R&D expenses,this cooperation helps companies launch new products and improve performance with the universities and research institutions innovative capabilities.

Fig.4 Proportion of patent application subjects

Fig.5 Trends of the number of patent application cooperation entities

3.2.2 Analysis of patent cooperation subjects

Among the 2 736 patents related to the biopharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province during the 10 years from 2007 to 2016,there are 129 patent applications with cooperation of more than 2 (including 2)different types of applicants,accounting for only 4.6% of the total number of patent applications.The ratio of patents applied for cooperation is far less than that of advanced regions.As shown in Table 2,there are ten types of cooperation for patent application,including companycompany (C-C),company-personal (C-P),companyuniversity (C-U),company-research institution (C-R),company-government (C-G),university-personal (UP),university-research institution (U-R),universitygovernment (U-G),research unit-personal (R-P),and personal-government (P-G).C-U,C-G and U-P have the largest number of cooperative patents.Companies have the highest participation rate in patent application cooperation in the whole industry.There are 88 patents applications for cooperation involving enterprises,and the participation rate of enterprises is 68.2%,which indicates that enterprise is an important subject with higher participation in the innovation of bio-pharmaceutical industry.The bio-pharmaceutical innovation cooperation system with enterprises as the main body is further strengthened,and the position of enterprises in cooperation is particularly prominent.

Table 2 Types of patent cooperation applications for bio-pharmaceutical industry

3.2.3 Analysis of patent cooperation network

Among the 10 types of patent application cooperation,the Industry-Academia-Research(IAR)cooperation network formed by enterprises,universities and research institutes has played a more important role in the innovation and development of the industry.IAR cooperation enables enterprises to find knowledge sources externally and realize knowledge sharing,which will expand their resource reserves for independent innovation.Therefore,the innovation cooperation network among enterprises,universities and research institution is analyzed,and then multiple measurement indicators are selected to measure and describe the structures and characteristics of the network.

Firstly,Gephi software is used to build a topological structure of IAR innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province.The point in the structure represents different innovation objects.The size of the points indicates that the innovation subject cooperating with other subjects.The bigger the point,the more times the subject cooperates with other innovative subjects.The line between the points represents the cooperation between different innovation subjects.The thickness of the line represents the number of cooperation between different innovation subjects.The thicker the line is,the more cooperation between the two innovation subjects.The network topology diagram is shown in Figure 6.

From the topology diagram of the IAR innovation cooperation network in the biopharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province(Figure.6),the network is in a non-connected state as a whole,the distribution of points is scattered,and the connections between most of the innovative subjects are loose.The whole network has a few core nodes.Besides,there are a few sub-groups centered on the core nodes in the network.Dalian Polytechnic University,China Medical University,Chinese Academy of Sciences,and Dalian Ocean University have the outstanding performances.These subjects have more cooperation with other organizations and they have a higher status in the network.

Fig.6 The IAR innovation cooperation network in the bio-pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province

As shown in Table 3,the scale of the IAR innovation network of Liaoning bio-pharmaceutical industry from 2007 to 2016 is 32 and the number of network sides is 19.So the overall size of the network is small.In addition,the density of the network is very small,only 0.038.This indicates that there are few connections among the majority of nodes in the network,the network structure is loose,and the degree of cooperation among industry,university and research institutes is still low.Besides,the mobility of knowledge in the innovation network is seriously insufficient.The average degree of the network is 1.188.There are only a few prominent nodes in the network as intermediaries.As most innovation cooperation subjects lack cooperation,the cooperation in the whole network is inefficient.

According to the relevant indicator information in the innovation cooperation network in Tables 4,5 and 6,Dalian Kerong Biotechnology Co.,Ltd.,Dalian University of Technology,Dalian Jinhongji Breeding Co.,Ltd.,Shenyang Institute of Applied Ecology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,and Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology possess the higher Degree Centrality.They cooperate with many different organizations in the innovation cooperation network.These subjects contribute more to the innovation cooperation and have higher status.The top ranked intermediaries in the innovation network include Dalian Polytechnic University,Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Dalian Ocean University,Shenyang Institute of Applied Ecology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,China Medical University,Dalian Minzu University,and Shenyang Hengsheng Agricultural Development Co.,Ltd.These subjects play an intermediary role in the cooperation and can influence the innovation and cooperation of the entire network effectively.For example,Dalian University of Technology,the first intermediary,has a low Degree Centrality.This indicates that Dalian Polytechnic University has not cooperated with many different innovation subjects in the network,but it plays an important role as a bridge intermediary.It has a great influence on the network.

From the analysis of various degrees,universities and research institutes are dominant.Enterprises are ranked lower in the innovation network,and they are also less effective.Universities and research institutes make great contributions to the innovation network and they control the whole network.

Table 3 Topological structure index of IAR innovation network

Table 4 Degree centrality of IAR innovation network

Table 5 Intermediary centrality of IAR innovation network

Table 6 Closeness centrality of IAR innovation network

According to the closeness centrality of IAR innovation network of the bio-pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province from 2007 to 2016,it can be seen that the gap among the top 10 organizations is not large,and the biggest gap is only 0.222.This shows that the differences between the innovation subjects in the network are not huge.Due to the looseness of the whole network,there is less cooperation among organizations.So the differences between the subjects are small.They have not cooperated with multiple organizations.

In general,the number of cooperation among most innovation subjects in the bio-pharmaceutical industry of Liaoning Province is small,the structure of the network is loose,and the structural subgroups don't have obvious levels.Although enterprises have a high degree of participation in innovation cooperation,the most influential parties in the innovation cooperation network are the research institutes and universities,which are important hubs in the network and have strong control over the network.

4 Conclusions and recommendations

Through the analysis of objective information on patent application,authorization,regional distribution and patent innovation cooperation in Liaoning biopharmaceutical industry,it can be found that the status quo of Liaoning bio-pharmaceutical industry is improved a lot.But there are still many shortcomings leading to the slow development of bio-pharmaceutical industry.The main conclusions are as follows.

(1)There is still a large gap between the number of patents in the bio-pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province and the advanced regions.Compared with the top three Provinces in the patent application of national bio-pharmaceutical industry,Liaoning Province only accounts for 1.75% of the total.Liaoning Province is weak in this industry.However,the number of patent applications in Liaoning has increased year by year,which indicates that the government has paid much attention to the development of bio-pharmaceuticals.

(2)The number of patent applications and authorizations has grown slowly in recent years.During this period,the development of biopharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province has fallen into a bottleneck,which leads to a slowdown in industrial innovation.

(3)The development of bio-pharmaceutical industry in Liaoning Province is concentrated in Dalian and Shenyang with obvious regional clustering and initial industrial cluster situation.

(4)The main subjects of patent applications in Liaoning Province are universities,research institutes and enterprises.The number of patent applied by universities is much higher than that of personal or enterprises.The main strengths for research and development are universities and research institutes,and the research and development in universities has increased rapidly in recent years.

(5)The proportion of patent applications for cooperative R&D is relatively small compared with the advanced Provinces,but the participation of enterprises is the highest,and they play an important role in R&D cooperation.

(6)The research cooperation network is relatively loose overall,and the cooperation between different subjects is not close.Universities and research institutions have a higher innovation status in the network.Universities and research institutions almost control the network.In contrast,although the participation of enterprises is large,their contribution to the innovation is insufficient.

Based on the above conclusions,we make the following recommendations.

First of all,bio-pharmaceutical enterprises have the highest participation in innovation cooperation.Therefore,the main subject of knowledge collaboration should fall into enterprises.They should actively seek technological innovation partners in industrial clusters instead of relying solely on universities and research institutes.

The relevant government departments should improve the corresponding protection and incentive measures according to the characteristics of the biopharmaceutical industry.

(1)The innovation-driven policy should be utilized and the bio-pharmaceutical industry should be put in a strategic position.The bio-pharmaceutical industry can develop fast with policy dividends.In response to the call for national biotechnology development,combined with the status quo of regional development and local conditions,the government should take bio-pharmaceuticals as a pillar industry in Liaoning Province to drive the upgrading of the overall industry.

(2)The patent system should be used to protect the intellectual property rights of enterprises.In order to accelerate the transformation of independent innovation and to get rid of simple imitation in the bio-pharmaceutical industry,it is necessary to further stimulate the enthusiasm of innovation.Only when innovative intellectual property rights are strictly protected can enterprises make new technological challenges.Therefore,it is vital to create a good environment that enables enterprises to independently innovate without worries.Infringement should never be tolerated in China.

(3)Bio-pharmaceutical industry clusters should be set up to promote research cooperation in industrial agglomeration areas.The bio-pharmaceutical industry has obvious characteristics of agglomeration.In response to this characteristic,building an industrial park with a complete industrial chain and giving enterprises objective conditions for innovative cooperation can effectively promote the development of the bio-pharmaceutical industry.

(4)Cooperation among companies,universities and research institutes should be further promoted to form a complete R&D chain.Besides,enterprises should be encouraged to enhance the innovation contribution in research cooperation.Research cooperation among companies,universities and research institutes is an important source of industrial technology innovation.Forming a perfect and close research cooperation network is vital for the rapid development of the industry.The government should introduce relevant policies to encourage enterprises to carry out independent innovation.In addition,financial subsidies should be granted to enterprises to motivate enterprises to carry out innovative activities.