Inventor innovation network and local context
Knowing the name of the inventors, their locations and the number of their patents,
provides a rich and personal view of the drivers of innovation. Within the patent data
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also those who lived elsewhere in the USA and in foreign countries. This helps us
highlight the geographical distribution of Goodyear’s inventors and map their
relationship with the two main innovation centers of the firm. In particular, we classify
Goodyear patents as Akron- or Luxembourg-based if at least one listed inventor was
located near the Akron or Luxembourg innovation center, respectively. These data can
be used to assess the levels of local and global collaboration on research, and identify the
major differences and commonalities between the innovative activities carried out in
Goodyear’s R&D centers