  The dynamics of innovation are nonlinear and complex: geographical,
technological, and economic selection environments can be expected to interact.
Can patents provide an analytical lens to this process in terms of different
attributes such as inventor addresses, classification codes, backward and
forward citations, etc.? Two recently developed patent maps with interactive
overlay techniques--Google Maps and maps based on citation relations among
International Patent Classifications (IPC)--are elaborated into dynamic
versions that allow for online animations and comparisons by using split
screens. Various forms of animation are explored. The recently developed
Cooperative Patent Classifications (CPC) of the U.S. Patent and Trade Office
(USPTO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) provide new options for a precise
delineation of samples in both USPTO data and the Worldwide Patent Statistics
Database (PatStat) of EPO. Among the "technologies for the mitigation of
climate change" (class Y02), we zoom in on nine material technologies for
photovoltaic cells; and focus on one of them (CuInSe2) as a lead case. The
longitudinal development of Rao-Stirling diversity in the IPC-based maps
provides a heuristics for studying technological generations during the period
under study (1975-2012). The sequencing of generations prevails in USPTO data
more than in PatStat data because PatStat aggregates patent information from
countries in different stages of technological development, whereas one can
expect USPTO patents to be competitive at the technological edge.
