Trends in innovative patents: US and China dominate
The European Patent Office (EPO) issued their annual Patent Index of 2022 on March 28, revealing some interesting information regarding the performance of various countries in terms of patent application in Europe.
The registration of new patents is a very important indicator of the level of innovation in a country. It usually takes several years from the filing of a patent application before a product is launched on the market. It even takes about eighteen months after filing for patent applications to be published. Patent filings therefore provides an early insight into the latest innovation and inventions.
Although 2022 was characterised by several global economic uncertainties, it seems from the number of patents as an early indicator of companies’ investment in research and development, that technical innovation remained robust with a total of 193 460 applications in 2022 - an increase of 2.5% on 2021.
Interestingly, this growth was mostly driven by countries outside of Europe since the number of patent applications from European countries remained at the same level as in 2021.
The leading country in the number of patent applications in several technological fields such as digital communication, medical technology, computer technology, and pharmaceuticals was the US (48 088 or 24.9%), followed by Germany (24 684 or 12.8%), Japan (21 576 or 11.2%), China (19 041 or 9.8%), France (10 900 or 5.6%), South Korea (10 367 or 5.4%), Switzerland (9 008 or 4.7%), the Netherlands (6 806 or 3.5%), the United Kingdom (5 697 or 2.9%) and Sweden (5 036 or 2.6%) as the rest of the top ten. Unfortunately, South Africa filed a meagre five patents in Europe.
Chinese firms filed 19 041 patent applications, which represent an impressive growth of 15.1% in patent applications from 2021. What is even more significant is that China experienced the highest growth rate among the twenty leading patent filing countries resulting in a 9.8% share of the total number of applications. The emphasis on innovation in China is apparent from the fact that patent filings from China more than doubled in the past five years.
From a company perspective the Chinese company Huawei, lodged the most patent applications, followed by LG, Qualcomm, Samsung and Ericsson.
Contrary to popular believe, patents are not only of interest to large research-rich companies. Encouraging is that one in five patent applications was filed by a small or medium-sized company or an individual inventor. A further 7% of applications were from universities or public research organisations.
The leading fields of technology with regard to patent filings were digital communication; computer technology; electrical machinery, apparatus, energy; audio-visual technology, telecommunications and semiconductors.
Digital and clean technologies
One of the areas that experienced a sustained growth in filings is related to digital and clean technologies and a variety of means to create, transfer and store electricity. Due to the accelerating race for sustainable innovation, totally new energy landscapes are developing.
Since the energy sector currently accounts for around three quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions, technologies for the transition to renewable energy is absolutely crucial in achieving the climate goal of holding the rise in global temperatures to around 1.7 degrees Celsius in 2100.
Some clean energy technologies have already matured, including solar power technologies, as reflected by the peak in patent applications published around 2012. However, here too the potential of surprising new advances continues to be explored, as seen in the case of floating solar farms.
Floating solar farms and high output photovoltaic materials
Engineers Nuno Correia and Carla Gomes of Portugal's Research and Technology Organisation (INEGI) led the development of a mooring platform for floating solar farms. The system tracks the sun, rotating each solar panel to optimise efficiency. Correia and Gomes developed the system under contract from technology company SolarisFloat, which will commercialise it.
The next generation of low cost, high output photovoltaic materials are creating fertile ground for new start-ups too, like Heliatek in Germany, a company founded by OLED pioneer Karl Leo.
Another example is self-charging portable devices by the Swedish innovators Henrik Lindström and Giovanni Fili. Their solar film is highly versatile and can be printed in different colours, shapes or patterns. First integrated into bike helmets that use self-charging lights, several potential uses are being researched. These include powering smartphones, e-readers and sensors as well as installation on façades, rooftops and windows.
Innovative batteries
The area of batteries saw by far the greatest increase in filings of almost any area in 2022 (+48.0%). The US chemist Donald Sadoway won the award for his invention of liquid metal batteries to store renewable energy at a large scale.
Along with other forms of energy storage, batteries enable power from renewable sources to be integrated into energy systems and overcome the intermittent nature of energy from wind and solar. Overall, Asia accounted for more than two-thirds of all patent applications, with more filings coming from applicants in South Korea than from those in Japan, traditionally the leading country.
Some of the most outstanding inventions received the 2022 European Inventor Award. These innovations entailed the following technologies:
Robotic exoskeleton enables paralysed children to walk
The first adaptable robotic exoskeleton for children has been invented by the woman Spanish engineer Professor Elena Garcia Armada from the Centre for Automation and Robotics (CAR). The paediatric exoskeleton enables children with mobility issues and paralysed children in wheelchairs to walk again, thus reducing muscle degradation, improving their overall well-being and extending their life expectancy.
Because children are often unable to walk due to neurological conditions and have complex symptoms in terms of joint motions, a paediatric exoskeleton needed to be adaptable and adjust its function to the symptoms of a particular child. Garcia thus invented an adjustable suit of titanium connected to a battery and a network of small motors with sensors, software and machinery. The resulting mechanical joints adapt intelligently to the motion of each child as their rehabilitation progresses.
Metal-eating plants
The French female researcher Professor Claude Grison from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) developed metal-eating plants to decontaminate polluted ecosystems in a smart and natural way.
Grison developed a method of using plants to extract metal elements from polluted soil around mining sites and then uses these as “ecocatalysts” to make new molecules. The ecocatalysts open up a new source of raw materials for chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic production such as biodegradable plastics, antimitotics (used in cancer treatment), capped DNA and RNA, cosmetics and key intermediates for fine chemistry.
Solar panels produce green hydrogen gas
Belgian scientists Johan Martens, Tom Bosserez and Jan Rongé from the Catholic University of Leuven broke new ground in the clean energy sector with their invention of a solar panel that can produce clean or green hydrogen gas anywhere from sunlight and ambient moisture, potentially providing an alternative source of green energy for buildings worldwide.
The invention thus produces renewable energy locally without any external supply of pure water, connection to the electricity grid or gas pipelines, or the use of precious metals. The progress of the scientists on materials that can absorb water and catalyse chemical reactions has helped overcome practical barriers in manufacturing standalone hydrogen production plants. The inventors say that twenty panels would provide enough heat and electricity for a modern home to make it through a cold winter.
The trio developed materials that, when exposed to sunlight, trigger chemical reactions on their surface that split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen gases. The hydrogen can then be captured and used as a source of energy either by burning the gas as a fuel (much like liquefied petroleum gas) or by running it through a fuel cell to generate a current. Unlike fossil fuels, the reaction emits no greenhouse gases.
Barometer of innovation
While the registration of new patents is not the only indicator of innovation in a country, it is an important barometer for innovation and especially the commercialisation of the innovation. From the European patent registrations it is clear that innovation is increasingly being driven by companies outside Europe with the US and China the main engines of growth.
If South Africa wants to compete in the global market or solve our unique challenges we will have to focus much more on technological innovation.
Professor Louis CH Fourie is an Extraordinary Professor in Information Systems at the University of the Western Cape
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