Asset-based bioeconomies are supposed to be dependent on patent economies, but few efforts have been made to understand how patent economies are relevant to bioeconomies, especially from a sociological perspective. This paper uses a heterogeneous network approach based on Gabriel Tarde’s Psychologie économique (with reference to actor- network theory) to analyze Taiwanese biomedical patents. Elements of heterogeneous networks (patent inventors, applicants, agents, examiners, and entrepreneurs) are approached as participants in network conversations aimed at constructing scopes and contents of each patent, thereby accumulating patent numbers. At least two network configuration modes are believed to be relevant to Taiwanese patent construction: outward linguistic and inward linguistic. The findings indicate that the dominant mode in Taiwan is not necessarily oriented toward a mainstream, asset-based bioeconomy, but that a domestic bioeconomy status is still pending while waiting for the co-construction of various heterogeneous network modes.

Keywords: bioeconomy, patent economy, heterogeneous network, economic psychology, actor-network theory