Assessing national technological advantage in circular economy innovations for the textile and leather sectors: a patent-based analysis

Abstract

This paper aims to measure and monitor countries’ technological advantage in the circular economy related technologies in the textile and leather industry. Analysing USPTO patent data, first, we identified the patent classes which are more likely to include the technologies for circular economy in the textile and leather sector. Second, we identified how the capabilities relevant in these areas are distributed across nations. Our results show that Italy still lags behind other European and non-European countries in terms of technological capabilities for circular economy for the areas specific to the textile and leather sector. The results allow us to identify some of the national priorities to foster the competitiveness of one of the pillars of the Made in Italy industries.