Research on Evolutionary Distribution and Characteristics of Patent Cooperation Network in Shandong Peninsula Urban Agglomeration

Urban agglomeration is the main vehicle for implementing the innovation-driven economic development model and an important base for the construction of innovative cities. Collaborative innovation is an important path to promote the high-quality development of urban agglomeration. Using the joint patents of industry-university-research as indicator in Shandong peninsula urban agglomeration, based on Social Network Analysis, we constructed patent collaboration network and analyzed its network characteristics and evolutionary process in order to provide countermeasures reference for the further improvement of collaborative innovation capacity of Shandong peninsula urban agglomeration. The findings of this study are as follows: (1) The patent cooperation network of Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration shows obvious phase characteristics, and the core of the network changes from ‘‘dual-core’’ to ‘‘multi-core’’. (2)The extent of patent cooperation widely varies among the three economic circles. Provincial Capital Economic Circle and the Jiaodong Economic Circle have strong network radiation drive, and the South of Shandong Economic Circle lacks an important centre. (3) Patent cooperation networks present as non-connected networks with several independent sub-networks occupying core positions in the network. The cooperation model has evolved from ‘‘one-to-one’’ model to ‘‘one-to-many’’ model.