Exploring AI-healthcare innovation: natural language processing-based patents analysis for technology-driven roadmapping

PurposeThe purposes of this paper are (1) to explore the overall development of AI technologies and applications that have been demonstrated to be fundamentally important in the healthcare industry, and their related commercialized products and (2) to identify technologies with promise as the basis of useful applications and profitable products in the AI-healthcare domain.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a technology-driven technology roadmap approach, combined with natural language processing (NLP)-based patents analysis, to identify promising and potentially profitable existing AI technologies and products in the domain of AI healthcare.FindingsRobotics technology exhibits huge potential in surgical and diagnostics applications. Intuitive Surgical Inc., manufacturer of the Da Vinci robotic system and Ion robotic lung-biopsy system, dominates the robotics-assisted surgical and diagnostic fields. Diagnostics and medical imaging are particularly active fields for the application of AI, not only for analysis of CT and MRI scans, but also for image archiving and communications.Originality/valueThis study is a pioneering attempt to clarify the interrelationships of particular promising technologies for application and related products in the AI-healthcare domain. Its findings provide critical information about the patent activities of key incumbent actors, and thus offer important insights into recent and current technological and product developments in the emergent AI-healthcare sector.

The status, challenges, and trends: an interpretation of technology roadmap of intelligent and connected vehicles in China (2020)

Purpose The rapid development of Intelligent and Connected Vehicles (ICVs) has boomed a new round of global technological and industrial revolution in recent decades. The Technology Roadmap of Intelligent and Connected Vehicles (2020) comprehensively analyzes the technical architecture, research status and future trends of ICVs. The methodology that supports the roadmap should get studied. Design/methodology/approach This paper interprets the roadmap from the aspects of strategic significance, technical content and characteristics of the roadmap, and evaluates the impact of the roadmap on researchers, industries and international strategies. Findings The technical architecture of ICVs as the “three rows and two columns” structure is studied, the methodology that supported the roadmap is explained with a case study and the influence of key technologies with proposed development routes is analyzed. Originality/value This paper could help researchers understand both thoughts and methodologies behind the technology roadmap of ICVs.

Quantum transport simulation of the two-dimensional GaSb transistors

Owing to the high carrier mobility, two-dimensional (2D) gallium antimonite (GaSb) is a promising channel material for field-effect transistors (FETs) in the post-silicon era. We investigated the ballistic performance of the 2D GaSb metal–oxide–semiconductor FETs with a 10 nm-gate-length by the ab initio quantum transport simulation. Because of the wider bandgap and better gate-control ability, the performance of the 10-nm monolayer (ML) GaSb FETs is generally superior to the bilayer counterparts, including the three-to-four orders of magnitude larger on-current. Via hydrogenation, the delay-time and power consumption can be further enhanced with magnitude up to 35% and 57%, respectively, thanks to the expanded bandgap. The 10-nm ML GaSb FETs can almost meet the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) for high-performance demands in terms of the on-state current, intrinsic delay time, and power-delay product.

Low-Carbon Development for the Iron and Steel Industry in China and the World: Status Quo, Future Vision, and Key Actions

The low-carbon development of China’s iron and steel industry (ISI) is important but challenging work for the attainment of China’s carbon neutrality by 2060. However, most previous studies related to the low-carbon development of China’s ISI are fragmented from different views such as production-side mitigation, demand-side mitigation, or mitigation technologies. Additionally, there is still a lack of a comprehensive overview of the long-term pathway to the low-carbon development of China’s ISI. To respond to this gap and to contribute to better guide policymaking in China, this paper conducted a timely and comprehensive review following the technology roadmap framework covering the status quo, future vision, and key actions of the low-carbon development of the world and China’s ISI. First, this paper provides an overview of the technology roadmap of low-carbon development around the main steel production countries in the world. Second, the potential for key decarbonization actions available for China’s ISI are evaluated in detail. Third, policy and research recommendations are put forward for the future low-carbon development of China’s ISI. Through this comprehensive review, four key actions can be applied to the low-carbon development of China’s ISI: improving energy efficiency, shifting to Scrap/EAF route, promoting material efficiency strategy, and deploying radical innovation technologies.

Recycling of Waste Fiber-Reinforced Plastic Composites: A Patent-Based Analysis

Fiber-reinforced plastic composite materials are increasingly used in many industrial applications, leading to an increase in the amount of waste that must be treated to avoid environmental problems. Currently, the scientific literature classifies existing recycling technologies into three macro-categories: mechanical, thermal, and chemical; however, none are identified as superior to the others. Therefore, scholars and companies struggle to understand where to focus their efforts. Patent analysis, by relying on quantitative data as a precursor to new technological developments, can contribute to fully grasping current applications of each recycling technology and provide insights about their future development perspectives. Based on these premises, this paper performs a patent technology roadmap to enhance knowledge about prior, current, and future use of the main recycling technologies. The results show that recycling macro-categories have different technology maturity levels and growth potentials. Specifically, mechanical recycling is the most mature, with the lowest growth potential, while thermal and chemical recycling are in their growth stage and present remarkable future opportunities. Moreover, the analysis depicts several perspectives for future development on recycling technologies applications within different industries and underline inter- and intra-category dependencies, thus providing valuable information for practitioners and both academic and non-academic backgrounds researchers interested in the topic.