A Visualized Analysis of the Research Current Hotspots and Trends on Innovation Chain Based on the Knowledge Map

The continued increase in global trade protectionism, refinement of labor division, high innovation cost, and development of information technology have led to many enterprises actively being engaged in innovation to improve their national economic competitiveness. Although significant research has been carried out on this by numerous academic institutions, little is known about innovation trends in Chinese enterprises. In the existing methods of literature research, the scientific knowledge map, which, based on bibliometrics, is an effective tool for management knowledge, can visually describe the knowledge resources and their carriers under the state of time series and provides a new way for literature analysis. In this paper, the CiteSpace tool was used to map knowledge domains. A total of 459 and 5645 studies published between 2010 and 2020 were downloaded from the CNKI and Web of Science databases. By analyzing the keywords “co-occurrence matrix”, “author cooperation networks”, and “high-frequency cited literatures”, we found the differences of the research current, hotspots, and trends both in China and the world, but we were not limited to these. The research results are as follows: In China: (1) There were 759 nodes in the map of key authors, which shows that innovation chain research in China is still in the early stages. In addition, the layout of author nodes was relatively scattered while density was low; therefore, it was hard to form clusters. There is a need to strengthen academic cooperation to improve research on innovation chains. (2) From the keyword network analysis map of the innovation chain, we found that the Chinese research hotspots were: innovation chain, industrial chain, collaborative innovation, scientific and technological innovation, innovation-driven, technological innovation, strategic emerging industries, innovation ecosystem, and integration of industry and education, among other fields. In the world: (1) Most academic studies on the innovation chain have been published in different fields; these journals are about production, operation, management science, and economy, among others. These findings show that the innovation chain has received attention from multiple disciplines, and, therefore, it belongs to an interdisciplinary research field. Studies from different fields have analyzed the innovation chain from their own research perspectives. Therefore, current research outcomes on the innovation chain are difficult to unify. (2) The most important authors and key studies were analyzed. According to the co-citation map, studies on the “innovation chain” with high co-citation frequencies were not studies on the innovation chain but had the innovation chain as a theme or a concept without in-depth research on the innovation chain. (3) Through co-citation and cluster analysis of keywords, we found that international studies on the “innovation chain” are more focused on the global value chain, blockchain technology, strategic analysis, sustainable development, and absorptive capacity among other fields. Research frontier themes were mainly communication technology, continuous operation management, technological change, ecological innovation, supply chain integration, Industry 4.0, logistics innovation, nanotechnology, circular economy, and supply chain innovation, among other fields. Therefore, international scholars focus more on: technological issues related to innovation, using advanced communication technology, blockchain technology, and nanotechnology to improve innovation abilities. Moreover, they insist on sustainable development in the process of innovation, advocating for green innovation and ecological innovation. Finally, results of the visualization show that current research is mainly focused on innovation, not the innovation chain. Therefore, experts in this field should pay more attention to the study of structural stability and knowledge mobility of the innovation chain.