This article uses concepts from technology management applied to health to identify and analyze the trends in new orthopedic implants. Using the technological information extracted from scientific articles and patents indexed between 2000 and 2014 in the Web of Science and Derwent Innovations Index databases, respectively, we created a taxonomy to take account of these trends. (Bio) mechanical and orthopedic engineering technologies (60%), (nano) biomaterials technologies (20%), and

more »

... l and (bio) pharmaceutical technologies (16%) represent the current trends in orthopedic prosthetics. The last two categories together correspond to the application of nanobiotechnology to new biomaterials for implants (32%) and indicate the future trends in orthopedic prosthetics. Technologies for testing and diagnostics account for just 4% of the total. These data are strategic, in that they indicate the development and production of new orthopedic technologies for the health sector in a global market for orthopedic implants expected to be worth some US$ 41.8 billion in 2016 9