Research on the Evolution of Textile Technological Convergence in China

Abstract

Technological convergence (TC) plays a vital role in leading the next generation of technological innovation. Research in this field has practical significance for its ongoing deployment as an innovation-driven strategy in the sustainable development of the textile industry. However, there are few relevant studies, with most of them carried out on only one level, whether from a micro or macro perspective. This study analyses the evolution of TC from both macro (industry) and micro (technical field) levels. A patented co-occurrence method is employed to measure TC and various social network indicators, including density, node strength and the Jaccard coefficient, to measure the evolution of the network and its nodes and edges. The results present that the density of the macro TC network has been increasing and that the industrial technologies that are closely associated with the textile industry include chemical engineering technology, pharmaceutical technology and material technology. Meanwhile, the micro TC network manifests high dependence on proprietary technology, whilst the convergence degree between the core technologies is relatively high. This study proposes that the government should continue to encourage textile enterprises to strengthen TC, particularly their integration with leading technologies, and should strengthen the integration of emerging industrial textiles with national defence, medicine and other related fields to improve innovation speed.