Centralized versus distributed innovation: mapping corporate R&D collaboration backbones through vibrant inventor and MST analysis
Journal
Scientometrics
ISSN
0138-9130
1588-2861
Date Issued
2026-07-16
Author(s)
Abstract
This study develops a patent-based scientometric framework for examining how persistent inventive activity is embedded within corporate co-inventor collaboration backbones. Integrating Vibrant Inventor Detection with Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) analysis, the framework links inventor-level persistence to backbone-level network structure. Vibrant Inventor Detection identifies inventors who sustain above-average recent activity and continuity over time, while MST extracts a minimum-distance co-inventor backbone by transforming co-patenting frequency into reciprocal distance, thereby prioritizing frequently repeated collaboration ties. Using patent documents for BYD and Tesla from 2005 to 2024, we compare how vibrant inventors are positioned within each firm’s intra-firm co-inventor network. The results suggest that BYD’s high-frequency collaboration backbone is more consistent with a centralized and hierarchical configuration dominated by a single inventive core, whereas Tesla’s backbone is more consistent with a distributed and modular configuration composed of multiple interlinked clusters. In BYD, vibrant inventors mainly occupy coordinating positions connected to peripheral collaborators; in Tesla, they play more integrative bridging roles across clusters. Rather than proposing universal categories of corporate innovation, this study offers a comparative scientometric approach for analyzing how persistent inventive talent is organized within different high-frequency collaboration backbones.
Subjects
Collaboration backbone
Corporate innovation
Minimum Spanning Tree (MST)
Persistence-based productivity
Vibrant Inventor Detection
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Type
journal article