In the past 20 years, there have been increasingly more studies on sustainable technology innovation (STI), possessing a significance for sustainable development. This paper aims to provide a research landscape, since the systematic understanding of STI is still inadequate. Through bibliometric analysis, it explores the literature distribution characteristics and the literature citation network. Based on the relevant literature data in the Web of Science (WOS), the study visually analyzes the development trend, topic distribution, burst literature, and co-citation network of the research literature, and extracts the evolution path of literature citation by using the main path analysis method. Through the analysis of co-citation and main path, 13 clusters in the co-citation network are found, which are further extracted as the main path network containing 82 nodes. Furthermore, this paper summarized the bibliometric landscape and discussed the frontier STI research topics. The comprehensive framework contributes to the understanding of STI themes and identifying future research agenda.

Open innovation diffusion is of great significance to industrial transformation and upgrading, forming an open innovation ecosystem based on the patent publication. However, patent applicants contribute much knowledge to the public domain, and the communication channel, which is network proximity, does not receive much attention. This study aimed to explore the key driving factors of open innovation diffusion by constructing a theoretical framework that includes four proximity dimensions in the context of a global industrial chain. By taking artificial intelligence for healthcare as an example, this study applied the quadratic assignment procedure model to conduct an empirical analysis with a sample containing 62 patent applicants. The empirical result verified that the key drivers are from the proximity dimensions and the interactions. Technological proximity plays the leading role in innovation diffusion, while organizational and temporal proximities play secondary roles. In addition, the significant moderating effects suggest that the proximity dimensions interact in innovation activities. Moreover, the proximity framework provides an overview of innovation management and policy implication.

The research of open innovation (OI) has developed considerably in recent years. In this article, a new perspective based on the patent citation network is provided to explore the dynamic evolution and mode of OI. In our framework of the OI network, enterprises are represented as nodes, and patent citations represent cross-organizational knowledge flow, which are ties in the network. The Driver Assistance System (DAS) was selected as the research case. Time-sliced patent citation networks are constructed, and then an exponential random graph model is employed to identify the formation mechanism of OI networks. The results show that the OI network of DAS is still partially open and at a low level. The inherent dominance of automakers may have been weakened, and new models and relationships in innovation activities are developing. In addition, heterogeneity in type and geographic proximity which significantly promote the formation of the open network was prevented, but the larger scale of the enterprise inhibited the OI network. R&D investment has no obvious impact. This research provides a new perspective to observe open innovation and helps stakeholders to better understand industry trends.