Why do firms do basic research (with their own money)?

Technology convergence, characterized by the blurring of boundaries between technologies, is an inevitable trend in the industry development. Measuring technology convergence trends can assist experts to adjust industry structures and develop reasonable R&D strategies. However, existing technology convergence measurement methods focus more on qualitative descriptions of the overall industry evolution and therefore lack quantitative methods to reveal the details of technology changeover. So, a synthetical technology convergence measurement analysis method and corresponding decision support system is proposed. The proposed method is capable of capturing both macro and quantitative features. From a macro perspective, the technology readiness level is determined based on the improved Gompertz model. From a quantitative measurement perspective, indicators of technical breadth and technical depth that describe the correlation of cross-domain technologies and the difficulty of mutual co-occurrence are proposed. In order to improve the efficiency of data processing and analysis, a decision support system has been developed based on the proposed method for the Derwent database. The proposed method is applied to measure the technology convergence law in the seismic isolation industry, to prove its effectiveness and advantages. The proposed method can provide enterprise managers with strategic judgment on the industry development status and effectively support expert decision-making.