Patents and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Beschreibung

Patent information reveals innovation accelerating towards a Fourth Industrial Revolution Patents are exclusive rights for inventions that are new and inventive. High-quality patents are assets for inventors because they can help attract investment, secure licensing deals and provide market exclusivity. Patents are not secret. In exchange for these exclusive rights, all patent applications are published, revealing the technical details of the inventions in them. Patent databases therefore contain a wealth of the latest technical information, much of which cannot be found in any other source, which anyone can use for their own research purposes. The EPO’s free Espacenet database contains more than 100 million documents from over 100 countries, and comes with a machine translation tool in 32 languages. This patent information provides early indicators of technological developments and reveals innovation accelerating towards a Fourth Industrial Revolution. Aim of the study This study draws on the latest available patent information to analyse the innovation trends underlying the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). All European patent applications related to 4IR have been identified up to 2016. These 4IR inventions have been further classified into three main sectors, each of which is subdivided into several technology fields: • Core technologies (hardware, software and connectivity) that make it possible to transform any object into a smart device connected via the internet. • Enabling technologies (analytics, security, artificial intelligence, position determination, power supply, 3D support systems, user interfaces) that are used in combination with connected objects. • Application domains (home, personal, enterprises, manufacturing, infrastructure, vehicles) where the potential of connected objects can be exploited.   Main findings 4IR innovation is taking off in various industries • The number of patent applications in 4IR technologies has been rising rapidly in recent years. Inventions focused on autonomous objects and combining features of computing, connectivity and data exchange already represent more than 3% of all patent applications at the EPO in 2016, and this number is expected to continue to increase in the coming years. Connectivity and the application domains Personal and Enterprise have attracted the largest numbers of such patent applications so far. 3D systems, Artificial intelligence and User interfaces have been the fastest-growing fields since 2011. • Twenty-five companies, most of them with a strong focus on information and communication technologies (ICT), accounted for about half of all 4IR patent applications at the EPO between 2011 and 2016. This concentration on a limited group of applicants is most visible in innovation in core technologies. Inventions in enabling technologies and application domains are less concentrated, and the top applicants in these sectors originate from a larger variety of industries, besides ICT. Europe, the USA and Japan are the established leaders, but China and Korea are rapidly catching up • Europe, the USA and Japan started developing 4IR technologies in the mid-1990s, and they were still the main innovation centres in 2016. The top European, US and Japanese applicants include large companies from various industry sectors, with strong patent positions in application domains and enabling technology fields. • 4IR innovation started ten years later in Korea and China, but has been increasing at a faster rate than in other regions. 4IR innovation in these two countries is highly concentrated in a few companies. In Korea, more than 90% of 4IR applications come from Samsung and LG, both of which have developed strong patent portfolios in diverse 4IR technology fields. Nearly 70% of Chinese patent applications originate from two companies (Huawei and ZTE) that are more specialised in core technologies. In Europe, Germany and France are ahead • Within Europe, Germany and France are foremost in 4IR innovation. Germany stands out in the application domains of vehicles, infrastructure and manufacturing, and France leads in enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence, security, user interfaces and 3D systems. • Some smaller European countries, such as the Benelux countries, the Nordic countries and Switzerland, also show strong inventive activity. • 4IR research in Europe is subject to a marked regional concentration. The inventive profiles of the top two EU regions for 4IR innovations (the greater Paris area, followed by the greater Munich area) reflect the complementary strengths of France and Germany. Other regions in Europe stand out due to the local presence of national industry champions.

Autor*in

Themen in »Patents and the Fourth Industrial Revolution«

Application domains Core technologies Enabling technologies

Stimmen zu »Patents and the Fourth Industrial Revolution«

Details

Link teilen