The usage of sector classification Essay

that due to unified codification of technological fields crosscountry research and comparison becomes possible. However it is not the case within the scope of this research work and in the given case study. In light of this, the necessity to use IPC classification is not so acute and permits opportunity of appliance of other classifications if helpful.
Even though IPC classification is an international one and indisputable has its own certain advantages, namely among them is the opportunity to define individually the extent of detalization, classification itself is still quite intricate and complex. There are fortunately other classifications that are also commonly applied in various researches, for instance  US Patent Classification or classification elaborated by Fraunhofer ISI and the Observatoire des Sciences et des Technologies in cooperation with the French patent office (INPI) that is based on the codes of the International Patent Classification. Also there exists another quite applicable for research studies of that kind classification named after the scientist, PD doctor of philosophic sciences and professor in Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research in Karlsruhe, Germany Ulrich Schmoch. Schmoch (2008) has presented his classification in the Report to the World Intellectual Property Organisation as a concept of a technology classification for country comparisons.
As professor U. Schmoch (2008, p. 2) correctly stated very often sector classifications are used in economic studies, while sectors are mainly defined by typical products even though companies produce a wide variety of goods, which means that sectors describe only the main economic activities of companies. At the same time, according to Schmoch, production of products is based on technologies but what is more important on a diverse variety of technologies. Correspondingly the notions of sector and technology describe different aspects of products and must be analyzed separately and even though patent classification that is based on technologies is quite similar to sector classifications  they are never identical. In light of this, Schmoch classification is considered to be an appropriate solution and quite applicable classification.
Here are the main characteristics and at the same time the advantages of the Schmoch classification
classification covers all technology fields (all codes of the IPC)
the size of the fields are balanced, namely very large fields and very small fields are avoided
classification is based exclusively on codes of the IPC as many data sources do not provide useful text elements for more advanced analyses
the level of differentiation should is appropriate, as on the one hand, the classification allows crude analysis based on five groups, on the other hand, a more detailed analysis with 35 fields is feasible, which is necessary for a better analysis of country structures
and finally the content of the fields is enough distinct from each other (even though the overlap of technologies cannot be avoided completely).
Finally, to have a complete overview it is worth mentioning the entire structure of Schmoch classification. Within the Schmoch classification there are first of all 5 Sectors, which are