The EXPAND project addresses highly topical challenges of visual analytics methods in the patent data domain. Aiming on a genuinely dynamical framework for visual analysis and knowledge crystallization, radically new concepts and methods have to be developed to unlock the potential of patent network data, which is characterized by its continuous and event based nature, its richness of attributes and its large scale. While these objectives are ranging high on a scientific and technological research agenda, a user-centred design and evaluation approach will ensure the practical utility and usability of the intended methods and concepts, which will be bundled and evaluated in form of a research prototype. The advancement and future implementation of the prototype into the business partners IT service portfolio will guarantee the exploitation of results as well as the strengthening of economic advantage in the strategic business intelligence market.
