특허정보를 활용한 디지털 트윈 기술 동향 분석 및 기술융합기회 발굴

Digital twin is considered as a key technology of industry 4.0, thus being essential for the future of industrial production. Despite the significance, a systematic analysis of its technological landscape is lacking. This study aims to investigate the technological development trends and newly emerging technological convergence opportunities in the domain of digital twin by exploiting patent information derived from USPTO. For this purpose, this study visualized and predicted the convergence dynamics among patent classification codes by adopting patent co-classification analysis and link prediction approach. The findings show that the number of digital twin-related patent applications has increased significantly since 2018. The CPC code G06F showed the highest eigenvector centrality, while G05B was characterized by highest betweenness centrality. According to the predictive model, 41 novel links were revealed, acting as potential technology convergence opportunities. These links were then categorized into 11 different domains. The most dominant category was “digital data processing and artificial intelligence”, which could play a foundational role in the diffusion of digital twin technology. The presence of digital twin technology is dominant in manufacturing, but its applications are expected to expand, including “climate change”, “healthcare” and “aerospace engineering”. The derived insights can support R&D managers and policy makers in formulating R&D strategies and directing future R&D investment decisions.