What are the geographic delineations of a technological innovation system? An analysis of carmakers’ fuel cell vehicle co-patents’ portfolios

This paper wishes to contribute to the Technological Innovation System (TIS) literature. More precisely, we study the geographic delineation issue of a focal TIS. In a first part, we explain why co-patents are a good tool for mapping a TIS. Then considering the Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) as a focal TIS, we analyse 10 carmakers’ co-patent networks in FCV technologies between 2000 and 2013. Our database includes 3,250 co-patents. The results show: 1) the nationalization index is rather strong for 5 carmakers, and weak for 3 others; 2) carmakers call upon different kinds of partners, located, moreover, in different places. The final section learns the lessons from the empirical study. JEL Codes: O31, O33, L62