Crossing trajectories of firm innovation and scientific research: Going beyond basic versus applied

The existing literature suggests little about the nuanced differences between basic and applied knowledge. The general understanding that knowledge generated by the scientific research is primarily “basic” knowledge, while the R&D activities undertaken by industrial generate “applied” knowledge, is simplistic. However, in well-developed science-based industries, the divide between basic and applied research becomes fuzzy. The present study provides the exploratory analysis of patents using the lens constructed out of scientific knowledge. The study employs a novel text analysis technique to use scientific knowledge depicted in the scientific publications to decode the patents. Our findings reveal that the extent of the disconnect between the scientific and technological knowledge themes is rather large. We find that the technological map when looked at with the lens of scientific knowledge depicts a different picture about a firm’s innovation. The finding implies that technological scholars just focusing on patents data have been missing on a crucial view of the technological trajectories and a firm’s innovation focus.