Alternative technology indexes in the offshore oil and gas industry

R& D policies play an important role for developing technologies. Alternative technology indexes are tested to provide an improved understanding of technology index in the offshore oil and gas industry. The analysis compares ten alternative technology indexes including technology diffusion counts, importance-weighted diffusion, innovation counts, importance- weighted innovation, patent counts, importanceweighted patent counts, and a simple measure of time. It is found that utilizing weighted diffusion count as an index of technology is clearly superior to all other indexes. The results also show the time as an index of technology is clearly inferior to most other indexes.