# Influence of technological innovations on industrial production: A motif analysis on the multilayer network

## TL;DR

This paper uses motif analysis on multilayer networks constructed from patent and trade data to identify technological synergies that signal local industrial capabilities and competitive advantages.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel motif-based analysis method on multilayer networks to detect significant technological combinations linked to industrial production.

## Key findings

- Significant technological synergies are identified beyond noise levels.
- Robust evidence of technology combinations leading to competitive advantages.
- Method provides insights useful for policy-making in industrial innovation.

## Abstract

We study whether specific combinations of technological advancements can signal the presence of local capabilities allowing for a given industrial production. To this end, we generate a multi-layer network using country-level patent and trade data, and perform a motif-based analysis on this network using a statistical validation approach derived from maximum entropy arguments. We show that in many cases the signal far exceeds the noise, providing robust evidence of synergies between different technologies that can lead to a competitive advantage in specific markets. Our results can be highly useful for policy makers to inform industrial and innovation policies.