مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

مدیریت، محیط زیست

Environmental protection technology (hereafter, environmental technology) plays an important role in effectively and economically controlling pollutant emissions. In this way, such technology contributes to the creation of a sustainable society, that is, one balancing economic development and environmental protection (Sun et al., 2008). The global importance of environmental technology has been increasing. Environmental technology is listed as a high priority in Japan’s 5th science and technology basic plan, which covers 2016 to 2020. Similarly, the U.S. government budgeted approximately 7.4 billion U.S. dollars for clean energy technology programs in 2016. Additionally, Germany’s high-tech innovation strategy, introduced in 2014, includes creating a sustainable economy and energy supply as one of its six priority tasks. These research and development strategies focus on the expansion of the environmental business market and are intended to improve international market competitiveness.

However, not all environmental technologies contribute equally to improved pollution control and resource conservation. Technology for environmental protection is diverse and comes in many forms. Some of these are pollution control technologies applicable to waste management, air pollution control, and wastewater treatment. The resource conservation area includes renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements, and energy-saving products. It is clear that the market demand for and cost of inventions differs depending on the type of environmental technology. Therefore, it is important to consider the characteristics of each environmental technology when suggesting an economical and effective environmental technology invention system. To understand the characteristics of environmental technologies, clarifi- cation is imperative.

The clarification of environmental technology was introduced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2009) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, see http://www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/en/est/). Meanwhile, previous literature focusing on the characteristics of environmental technology patents (hereafter, environmental patents) is limited, and most studies focus on the U.S. and European countries (Fujii, 2016). In recent years, several academic studies have focused on specific environmental technologies, such as wind energy technology in Europe (Lindman and Söderholm, 2015) and green chemistry in Japan (Fujii, 2016).