Page 59 - Technology and Innovation Journal - 19-1

Technology and Innovation, Vol. 19, pp. 397-413, 2017 ISSN 1949-8241 • E-ISSN 1949-825X
Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.21300/19.1.2017.397
Copyright © 2017 National Academy of Inventors. www.technologyandinnovation.org

EVENT ANALYTICS FOR INNOVATION TRAJECTORIES:

UNDERSTANDING INPUTS AND OUTCOMES
FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS

C. Scott Dempwolf and Ben Shneiderman 2
1
1 Department of Urban Studies and Planning, National Center for Smart Growth, University of Maryland, College Park, MD,
USA
2 Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Science, University of Maryland,
College Park, MD, USA

New analysis tools are expanding the options for innovation researchers. While previous
researchers often speculated on the relationship between innovation inputs, such as patents
or funding, and innovation outcomes, such as product releases or initial public offerings, new
software tools enable researchers to analyze innovation event data more efficiently. Tools such
as EventFlow make it possible to rapidly scan visual displays, algorithmically search for patterns,
and study an aggregated view that shows common and rare patterns. This paper presents initial
examples, using data from 34,331 drugs or medical devices, of how event analytic software
tools, such as EventFlow, could be applied to innovation research.

Key words: Event analytics; EventFlow; Innovation metrics; STI; Visualization

INTRODUCTION: STI SYSTEMS AND Such concepts are connected to and acted upon
PROCESSES by a network of scholars and inventors engaged in
Worldwide interest in promoting economic the discovery and creation of new knowledge and
growth through innovation has grown dramatically. technologies. These discoverers and inventors, in
As a result, there is increased effort by researchers turn, engage with networks of institutions, agencies,
in science policy and scientometrics to study and organizations, intermediaries, entrepreneurs, and
measure science, technology, and innovation (STI) investors who sponsor their activities and help trans-
to help understand the basis for success or failure. late the results into new products and services in the
They are concerned with understanding, describing, marketplace. Taken together, these networks, along
measuring, and visualizing the scope, organization, with their embedded knowledge and resources, com-
and structure of human knowledge as a dynamic prise what we have recently recognized as innovation
collection of concepts (1). ecosystems. Understanding, modeling, and measuring

_____________________
Accepted April 15, 2017.
Address correspondence to C. Scott Dempwolf, Assistant Research Professor, School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, 3835 Campus Dr.,
College Park, MD 20742, USA. Tel: +1 (301) 405-6307; Fax: +1 (301) 314-9583. E-mail:dempy@umd.edu

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