Green IP

Report 2021

Our report examines the role of patents in making innovative ‘green’ technologies into a reality as well as how the patent landscape can be used to identify opportunities for partnering, collaboration and investment.

It details commercially-focused innovation across a diverse range of technologies that seek to reduce the negative impact of human activities on the climate and natural environment. From repurposing carbon dioxide to make protein-rich foods, to the prospect of an AI-mediated renewable energy supply and harnessing electric vehicle battery technology to drive energy efficiency in consumer devices, the report highlights how patents are crucial to expediting cutting-edge technologies.

Using information from the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Patentscope database, the report reveals a steep increase in the number of patent applications for ‘climate change mitigating technologies’ (CCMTs) over the last decade. Numbers have more than doubled since 2012.  

The data also identifies the green technology areas that receive the most attention from innovators. By far the most prominent is energy generation and transmission which accounts for 35% of all patent applications, followed by those related to goods production and processing at 20%.

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