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The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) facilitates patients with all-time-connected medical devices through cost-effective solutions and a feeling of comfort with round-the-clock hospital support. The patients who cannot visit hospitals for routine checkups prefer the usage of IoMT devices. The healthcare facilities also rely on the real-time statistics of IoMT machines and diagnose problems and their solutions within a small interval of time. This could only be possible when a robust convergence of technologies is used with IoMT devices. This review study discusses how we may apply the convergence of IoMT devices with trending technologies and focuses on delivering a new dimension of novel IoMT usage through broad multi-homing dense networks. It also discusses various applied machine learning algorithms available in the healthcare industry. It compares a variety of disease predictions and the accuracy of the equipment and decision recommendations. The review study also discusses various IoMT convergence open challenges and opportunities through the labor industry healthcare system.

Introduction: Detecting radical innovations in the solar energy domain could offer innovation references and support the promotion of solar energy. However, relevant studies in the solar energy domain are lacking, and the related methods need to be improved.Methods: In this paper, a new framework to identify radical innovations in the solar energy domain is proposed by combining a technological convergence study and scientific relation analysis, and the link prediction method is utilized to detect potential radical innovations in this domain.Results: 1) The distributions of both the technological classes and scientific categories are uneven in the solar energy domain. The top 15 technological classes account for nearly 75.46% of all classifications. Fifteen scientific categories are cited by all the patents, and applied physics, multidisciplinary material science, energy and fuels play important roles in this domain. 2) The relationships among technological classes have evolved over time and have mainly focused on neighbouring disciplines. 3) A total of 130 patents containing new convergence relationships and/or closely related to science are identified as radical innovations. Radical innovative topics are related to the subdomains of solar photovoltaic (solar PV), heat storage, heat exchangers, and solar collectors. 4) Five potential radical innovative topics are identified. Automatic plants for producing electric energy, solar energy ecology houses, and so on are considered to have great potential in the future.Discussion: The results are consistent with the authoritative report and previous studies, which verify the viability of our methods. And the findings have important implications for scientists, policy-makers, and investors in this domain.

Technology convergence can trigger technological innovation and change. Therefore, it is required to develop an approach to predict the convergence between technology fields that did not exist in the past. It will allow a frim to preoccupy a completely new competitive advantage that is different from that of its competitors. The timely anticipation of converging technology fields allows the innovating firms to recognize the changing business developments associated with the technology convergence. A variety of researchers have presented supervised learning-based approaches to predict potential technology fields where technology convergence is taking place using patents. They have developed machine learning models which capture the associations between the past and future connections between technology classes. Although their contributions are absolutely significant, they have a limitation in that they do not consider in depth the technological properties that are outputs of technological activities performed in each technology field. To ensure that the predicted future connections between technology fields are reasonable, technological properties that can specifically imply technology convergence should be clearly reflected in the process of the supervised learning. Motivated to remedy this problem, this study proposes a supervised learning-based approach to anticipating potential technology convergence by using the link prediction results, the technological influence relationships, and the technological relevance between technology classes. Using these as input features, several classification models that predict new technology convergence are trained and a voting classifier is developed to ensemble all the models. This study is expected to contribute to identifying new technology opportunities that can be realized through technology convergence. Furthermore, this study will assist firms to reflect the identified opportunities on their technology roadmap and make business decisions to penetrate the relevant market in a timely manner.

Think tanks play a fundamental role in shaping policy agendas in Western countries, especially in the US. As international biosecurity is turning from a moderate to a serious concern, the convergence of biosecurity subjects and think tanks is evidently increasing. Examining the involvement and implication of think tanks in biosecurity policy formulation domestically and internationally is, therefore, of great value. This article takes a brief look at the intellectual output of over 30 think tanks during the last five years, before and after the outbreak of COVID-19, and tries to build an understanding of the extent to which these think tanks informed strategic, operational, and tactical decisions, with the aim of providing a better basis for dealing with sophisticated biological threats.

Self-similar growth and fractality are important properties found in many real-world networks, which could guide the modeling of network evolution and the anticipation of new links. However, in technology-convergence networks, such characteristics have not yet received much attention. This study provides empirical evidence for self-similar growth and fractality of the technology-convergence network in the field of intelligent transportation systems. This study further investigates the implications of such fractal properties for link prediction via partial information decomposition. It is discovered that two different scales of the network (i.e., the micro-scale structure measured by local similarity indices and the scaled-down structure measured by community-based indices) have significant synergistic effects on link prediction. Finally, we design a synergistic link prediction (SLP) approach which enhances local similarity indices by considering the probability of link existence conditional on the joint distribution of two scales. Experimental results show that SLP outperforms the benchmark local similarity indices in most cases, which could further validate the existence and usefulness of the synergistic effect between two scales on link prediction.

Every day more and more companies rely on artificial intelligence, from small startups to large companies, among which stand out not only the IT giants Google, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM, but even those that seemingly far from this topic - for example, General Motors and Boeing created a joint laboratory for AI research. It becomes obvious that AI technology is the real mainstream of our time. The article examines the global market for artificial intelligence systems and technologies. The authors described the peculiarities of the formation of this market and the main trends and segments in its development. The goal of research - identify the dynamics, features and trends of the global market for artificial intelligence systems and technologies. The methodology of system analysis, the dialectical method of scientific cognition, methods of historical, logical and comparative analysis are used. The concept of artificial intelligence has been systematized, the dynamics of the global market for artificial intelligence systems and technologies have been revealed, as well as in the regional context. The relationship between its dynamics and the sharp jump in performance of information processing algorithms, which became possible due to the fast computer based on GPUs, an avalanche-like data growth and the emergence of almost unlimited possibilities for storage and technology access, has been detected. It is shown that the global market for artificial intelligence technologies is in a phase of inflated expectations and with a high enough level of risk for investors. The main trends and segments in the development of the global market for artificial intelligence systems and technologies have been identified. These include deep learning technologies, the convergence of AI technologies with other technologies such as analytics, ERP, the Internet of Things, blockchain, and even quantum computing, which has the greatest impact, the development of cognitive intelligence systems, and the creation of a cognitive computer. It is shown that business leaders consider AI fundamental and absolutely necessary for the development of future business opportunities. It has been proven that the rapid development of AI systems and technologies is not just another technological innovation, but the technological platform of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is associated with hopes for accelerating the economic growth of the world economy, increasing the competitiveness of countries and companies.

Currently, the world is moving rapidly toward carbon neutrality, and renewable energy technology is very important in carbon neutrality. Among various renewable energy technologies, wind power is attracting much attention due to its sustainability, resource abundance, and high applicability. This study analyzed wind power patents from 2010 to 2021 to derive current global originality and convergence information. For IP5 countries, the growth stages of technology and the patent convergence networks were inferred by time series analysis and an association rule mining algorithm, respectively. The results showed that, during the analysis period, about 5000 patents were applied on annual average, and it was analyzed that China held the most patents at 48%, followed by the US, Europe, Korea, and Japan. According to the technology convergence network of patent codes from all the IP5 countries, patents related to ‘wind turbines with rotation axes in the wind direction’ occupied a very central position, and ‘power conversion electric or electronic aspects’ and ‘integration of patents related to renewable energy sources in buildings with wind power’ were found to show high connection strength. By country, it was analyzed that the US and China showed high patent competitiveness onshore and possessed many ‘independent power conversion cluster’ technologies. The research hypothesis was that technology development trends can be analyzed and the characteristics of each country can be understood through patent analysis in the wind power field. This hypothesis was analyzed through various patent analysis techniques, and this paper has novelty in that it presents the global megatrend in the wind power field through patent analysis and quantitatively presents the current status of technology development in five major countries.

Abstract Background Despite the significant impact of pharmaceutical innovations on healthcare, our understanding is still limited because previous studies explored only a few cases and largely came from a linear perspective. This study presents a detailed case of the Chinese and U.S. pharmaceutical patents and investigated advancements that the global pharmaceutical industry is experiencing. A network analysis approach was used to identify certain aspects regarding the diffusion of pharmaceutical innovations, including innovation attributes, adopter characteristics, and clustering. Methods Based on a patent database, network analysis and visualization, this study captured the structure of patent networks for the global pharmaceutical landscape in a large set of patents. A large volume of patent data, 15,422 patent filings citing Chinese pharmaceutical patents, 28,075 citing U.S. patents, and 6064 citing both Chinese and U.S. patents during 2014–2015, were retrieved from the world patent database, Derwent Innovation Index. The networks reveal many interesting features of technological innovation, convergence trends and diffusion patterns. Results Convergence innovations were identified, with the advantage and influence of U.S. patents shown in a variety of areas, and their Chinese counterparts were concentrated in traditional Chinese medicine. Early adopters of Chinese patents were mainly universities within the national sector, while early adopters of U.S. patents were academic institutions and large international pharmaceutical corporations of balanced quantity, contributing a higher degree of technology convergence. Technology convergence in the cancer-treatment sector is expected to have a high future development potential. Conclusion Chinese and U.S. pharmaceutical innovations contributed differently to the growth and development of the global pharmaceutical industry. The findings of this study can provide rich knowledge about the influence, diffusion and convergence trends of Chinese and U.S. pharmaceutical innovations. In the pharmaceutical industry, the findings may provide implications for researchers, policy makers, health professionals, and the general public to help improve the overall health of society.

The smartphone market is facing a huge growth in the last few years. Convenience and personalization are the main features of the Smartphones. Turkey is one of the top ranked countries in Smartphone market growth. Newer generation convergence products (all-in-ones, camera phones) offer consumers higher product performance in terms of quality which is better than their dedicated versions. Another dilemma starts in the minds of consumers about the purchase consideration because of the increased availability to many options. This paper investigates the choice patterns of Turkish university students for product forms (converged vs. dedicated) in different technological performance levels. Mostly the converged product is the choice without any difference in terms of product properties. In the end, managerial implications are addressed and directions for future research are suggested.

[Purpose/significance] Technology convergence is a significant means of technological innovation, plays an important role in economic and social development, and has gradually become an important part of the national science and technology strategy. [Method/process] On the base of the summary of its concept and the clarification of its significance of technology convergence study, the paper pointed out its research stages, and made comparative analysis of the methods in data collection, technosphere identification and convergence analysis. [Result/conclusion] Finally, it concludes the shortages of existing studies and the further research directions, which can deepen the study on technology convergence.

This study examines how the characteristics of cooperative research and development (R&D) projects in the public domain impact information and communication technology (ICT) convergence. Based on the analysis of 416 cooperative R&D projects under the ICT‐based industry convergence R&D program in Korea, the study finds that the characteristics of cooperative R&D projects significantly impact ICT convergence. Moreover, the participation of public research institutes and universities is critical for ICT convergence compared with that of firms. However, in firm‐to‐firm cooperation, the participation of small and medium enterprises contributes to cross‐sectional convergence, while the participation of large firms leads to overall and longitudinal convergence. R&D inputs such as the number of partners and government subsidies exhibit an inverted U‐shaped relationship (negative quadratic effect) with technology convergence. Project duration and homogeneous partners are also critical factors for ICT convergence. The results indicate several implications and guidelines on how to effectively organize cooperative R&D projects to facilitate technology convergence.

A convergência tecnológica criou a possibilidade de serviços de comunicações serem realizados baseados em tecnologias diferentes, garantindo o mesmo uso para usuários e melhores benefícios para provedores. Desta forma, ambos os consumidores - empresariais e residenciais - tiveram aumentadas suas escolhas para serviços conjuntos, bem como para provedores de serviços. A regulação existente não analisa o serviço como um resultado, mas como um produto ou tecnologia a ser autorizada. Baseado na literatura de utilização e comportamento do consumidor, este artigo descreve e discute uma estratégia de marketing usada pelos operadores de telecomunicações, os quais tiram vantagem da ineficiência da regulação e legislação. Uma análise teórica do ambiente competitivo e do uso da tecnologia conclui que benefícios econômicos da convergência tecnológica ocorrem devido a quatro fatores: progresso tecnológico; falhas na regulação; complexidade da tecnologia; não habilidade de explorar os benefícios da convergência. O mau uso destes serviços pelos provedores de telecomunicações, tendo em vista a convergência tecnológica e integração de sistemas neste setor, são discutidos especificamente no contexto dos serviços de comunicação de voz à longa distância utilizando VOIP, criando propostas para definir o melhor uso da tecnologia a fim de garantir uma competição justa para o mercado.Technological convergence allowed for the carrying out of communication services, based on different technologies, assuring the same use for users and better benefits for providers. This way, both entrepreneurial and residential consumers had an increase in their choice for joint services as well as for service providers. The existing regulation does not analyze the service as a result, but as a product or technology to be authorized. Based on the literature of utilization and behavior of the consumer, this article describes and discusses a strategy of marketing used by communication opoerators, who take advantage from the inefficiency of the regulation and legislation. A theoritical analysis of the competitive environment and use of technology points out that the economic benefits from technological convergence go on due to four factors: technological progress, regulation failures, technological complexity, and lack of skill for exploring convergence benefits. The misuse of these services by telecommunication providers, given the technological convergence and integration of systems in this sector, are specifically discussed in the context of voice communication services at a long distance, utilizing VOIP, establishing proposals for defining the better use of technology which may assure a fair competitiveness for the market.