Towards Measuring Disruptive Innovation Across Countries

TL;DR

This paper highlights the importance of using global citation data to accurately measure disruptive innovation across countries, revealing that US inventors are more disruptive than previously thought when international citations are included.

Contribution

It introduces a method to correct bias in the CD index by incorporating global citation networks, improving cross-country comparisons of disruptive innovation.

Findings

US disruptiveness advantage increases with global citation data

European and Asian countries' disruptiveness measures are significantly adjusted downward

Global citation integration is crucial for accurate international innovation assessment

Abstract

The CD index is a widely used measure of disruptive inventions. Most studies compute it using USPTO data. This creates a puzzle because the US appears less disruptive than European and Asian countries. We show that this largely stems from missing international citations. Using a global citation network, we quantify and correct this bias. The disruptiveness advantage of non-US inventors drops by 64% to 148% of the US baseline mean. The US emerges as a disruption leader over Europe, with Asia's advantage substantially reduced. Globally integrated citation data are essential for credible measurement of disruptive innovation in international contexts.