Technology Patents by Top Themes, 2017-2021 - Thematic Research

Technology Patents by Top Themes, 2017-2021 - Thematic Research

Summary

Globally, there were over 6.5 million tech patent publications between 2017 and 2021. Over this five-year period, the tech patent publications have increased at a CAGR of 8%. Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are the top two themes driving tech patents, followed by industrial automation, internet of things (IoT), and ecommerce. Samsung, Huawei, IBM, Qualcomm, and LG were the top five tech patent holders between 2017 and 2021.

Key Highlights

  • Tech patent publications have grown at a CAGR of 8% between 2017 and 2021.
  • Samsung, Huawei, IBM, Qualcomm, and LG were the top five tech patent holders between 2017 and 2021.
  • Patent offices in China and the US saw more tech patent publications than any other region.
  • Samsung is one of the top 10 tech patent holders in China, the US, Asia-Pacific-excluding China, and Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) regions.
  • In China, all the top tech patenting holders (except Samsung) are native companies. Four of the top 10 patent holders in the US are non-native companies. Five of the top 10 tech patent holders in the EMEA region are headquartered in the US.
Scope
  • This report looks at the top 10 themes driving the tech patent publications between 2017 and 2021.
  • It briefs on the growth trend of overall tech patents and the trend for each of the top theme.
  • It includes a list of the top 10 patent holders for each theme. It also provides the patent publication trend of these patent holders.
  • It also lists key start-ups holding the greatest number of patents for each theme.
  • It details the geographical distribution of the patent publications for each theme.
  • In addition, we include the over geographical distribution of the tech patents.
  • The report details on the top patent holders in the four geographies. It also looks at the themes driving the patent publications in each of these geographies.
Reasons to Buy
  • Innovation is crucial to the development and deployment of technologies.
  • Patents offer exclusive rights for inventions and innovations-which can be a product or a process.
  • Companies invest in patents to gain the competition advantage in technologies, earn licensing revenues, and protect from litigations.
  • Developments in any industry over the future is determined by themes.
  • Companies that invest in patents in themes that are set to transform the industry are bound to succeed.
  • Companies that fail to invest in patents in the right theme at the right time are bound to fail.
  • This report studies the tech patent landscape by themes in detail.


  • Executive Summary
    • Cybersecurity and AI are the top themes by tech patents publications
    • China's patent office has the highest share of patents for nine of the top 10 tech themes
    • Patent offices in China and the US saw more tech patent publications than any other region
  • Top Ten Themes Driving Tech Patents, 2017 to 2021
    • Why are patents important?
    • Globally, there were over 6.5 million tech patent publications since 2017
    • Cybersecurity and AI are the top two tech themes by patents publications
    • Between 2017 and 2021, patent publications have grown for all the top 10 tech themes
    • Samsung and Huawei are the biggest tech patent holders since 2017
    • Samsung and Huawei's patents have grown at a CAGR of 6% and 10%, respectively
    • Explore the top 10 themes driving the tech patents since 2017
    • Cybersecurity and AI are the top two themes driving tech patents since 2017
  • Cybersecurity
    • There were 521,324 cybersecurity patent publications since 2017
    • China's patent office has seen 38% of cybersecurity publications since 2017
    • IBM has published more cybersecurity patents than any other player
    • Huawei's cybersecurity patent publications have grown more than any other player
    • OneTrust and Lookout are cybersecurity start-ups with the greatest number of patents
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
    • There were 502,852 AI patent publications since 2017
    • China's patent office holds 42% AI patent published in tech sector since 2017
    • IBM has published more AI patents than any other company since 2017
    • Among the top AI patent holders, Ping An's publications have grown the most since 2017
    • ByteDance and Preferred Networks are AI start-ups with the most patent publications
  • Industrial Automation
    • There were 450,885 industrial automation patent publications since 2017
    • China's patent office holds 33% of industrial automation patent publications since 2017
    • Fanuc has published the most industrial automation patents since 2017
    • LG's industrial automation patent publications have grown at a CAGR of 29% since 2017
    • Drishti Technologies is the start-up with the most industrial automation patent publications
  • Internet of Things (IoT)
    • There have been 329,827 IoT patent publications since 2017
    • China's patent office accounts for 35% of IoT patent publications since 2017
    • Samsung has published more IoT patents that any other company
    • IoT patent publications for Huawei have increased at a CAGR of 27% since 2017
    • Terminus Technology, an IoT platform provider, owns 75 IoT patent publications
  • Ecommerce
    • There were 249,110 ecommerce patent publications since 2017
    • China's patent office holds 33% of ecommerce patent publications since 2017
    • Alibaba has published more ecommerce patents than any other company since 2017
    • Only Tencent and Toshiba saw small growth in ecommerce patent publications since 2017
    • Instacart has the highest number of ecommerce patents amongst tech start-ups
  • Fintech
    • There have been 231,319 fintech patent publications since 2017
    • Patent offices in China and the US together account for 61% of fintech patent publications
    • Alibaba has published more fintech patents than any other company since 2017
    • Capital One and Tencent have seen the highest growth in fintech patent publications
    • Ripple and Klarna are the fintech start-ups with the most patent publications since 2017
  • Internet TV
    • There were 174,732 internet TV patent publications since 2017
    • China's patent office accounted for 34% of internet TV patent publications since 2017
    • Samsung and Sony have more internet TV patents than any other company since 2017
    • Internet TV patent publications declined for the three leading patent holders
  • Healthtech
    • There have been 166,349 healthtech patent publications since 2017
    • The US patent office accounts for 37% of healthtech patent publications since 2017
    • Philips and Johnson & Johnson lead in the number of healthtech patent publications
    • Johnson & Johnson's healthtech patent publications have grown the most at a CAGR of 32%
    • CMR Surgical and HeartFlow had the most healthtech patent publications since 2017
  • Cloud
    • There were 127,241 cloud patent publications between 2017 to 2021
    • China's patent office accounts for 43% of cloud patent publications since 2017
    • IBM holds more cloud patents than any other company since 2017
    • Cloud patent publications have marginally declined for IBM and Google
    • Rubrik and Talkdesk had the most cloud patent publications between 2017 to 2021
  • Robotics
    • There were 115,293 robotics patent publications between 2017 to 2021
    • China's patent office accounts for 39% of robotics patent publications since 2017
    • Fanuc holds more robotics patents than any other player
    • Robotics patent publications for LG have increased the most since 2017
    • UBTech and Locus have the most robotics patent publications between 2017 to 2021
  • Geographical Analysis of Tech Patents, 2017 to 2021
    • Patent offices in China and the US saw more tech patent publications than any other region
    • China's patent office accounted for 38% of total tech patent publications since 2017
    • In China, cybersecurity and AI are the top two themes driving tech patent publications
    • In China, Huawei and Samsung were the biggest tech patent holders from 2017 to 2021
    • In China, patent publications of Ping An Insurance grew at the highest CAGR since 2017
    • In the US, cybersecurity and industrial automation were the top themes driving tech patents
    • In the US, IBM and Samsung are the biggest tech patent holders since 2017
    • Samsung's patent publications in the US patent office grew at a CAGR of 4% since 2017
    • In APAC-ex China, cybersecurity is the top theme by patent publications
    • Six of the top 10 tech patent holders in Asia Pacific-ex China are Japanese companies
    • Samsung's patent publications in Asia Pacific-ex China have grown at a CAGR of 4%
    • In EMEA, industrial automation and cybersecurity were the top themes in tech patents
    • In EMEA, Ford and Qualcomm were the biggest tech patent holders from 2017 to 2021
    • In EMEA, four out of the top 10 patent holders are non-tech companies
  • Appendices
    • Key Considerations
    • Glossary
    • Further Reading
    • Our Thematic Research Methodology
    • Our approach towards consolidating `analytics-ready' worldwide patent data
    • About GlobalData

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