  We studied the evolution of the European Patent Office (EPO) patents
applicants' collaborations network, within a 35 years span of data (1978-2013).
Focusing on the Giant Component (GC) formation process over many time-windows,
distributed throughout the data timeline, we found that the features governing
this phenomenon are indicative of emerging globalization in the applicants'
collaborations. The timeline appears to be divided into three regimes,
corresponding to three states of the network's evolution. In the early years
state, the GC takes long to form and the instant of its creation is easily
pinpointed, while it features geographically segregated groups of applicants
with technologically similar activities. In contrast, in the late years state,
the GC forms quickly, the exact point of its creation is harder to spot, the
applicants' activities are more disparate technologically, while their
inter-regional collaborations are significantly increased. The middle years are
an intermediate state between the two extreme of early and late years.
Moreover, we concluded that the critical patents, which induce the GC's
formation, are typically introduced by large-sized applicants and also that top
patent-producing applicants are likely to submit critical patents, albeit at a
lower rate than their overall patent submission. Lastly, we uncovered the
crucial role that Japan plays in the network's coherence, through its prominent
participation in the GC and the critical patents.
