Promoting sustainability goals: innovation trajectories of Fintech through patent analysis

Patents are important sources of technical knowledge because they offer a wealth of information on innovations and technological developments. This paper focuses on Fintech-related patent certificates in order to examine the technical trends in this particular sector and discuss the factors influencing technological advancement. The data were retrieved through the World Intellectual Property Organization database, considering selected keywords. Through the network analysis, we identify five relevant technological clusters that allow us to detect the technological substrate underlying the corresponding cluster. The Bass diffusion model permits the observation of the technological trajectories of each cluster, outlining the diffusion patterns. Furthermore, particular attention is given to the developing technologies defined as "green", and we describe how these trends have changed over time and predict their future technological trajectory. Our findings provide an in-depth analysis of the Fintech patent landscape, highlighting the connections between the different technologies. It also allows us to assess the technological leadership of companies and the technological life cycle that describes the diffusion patterns.