A worldwide overview of patents relating to green technologiesAuthor: Aled MatthewsPublished: November 2021 Top lines:1. There is strong growth in the volume of green technology patenting worldwide, especially in wind power, hydrogen power and ‘green’ vehicles, which have seen their annual levels of patenting more than double in the past five years.2. The UK shows a degree of specialism in the patenting of wind power, nuclear power, greener buildings, jet zero and CCUS (carbon capture, usage and storage).3. The UK is particularly specialised in offshore wind power and greener buildings, and is ranked 1st of the top 10 patenting countries worldwide in these technology areas.Background:ERE has published a series of seven patent analytics reports looking at green technologies. These reports were published during COP26’s Science and Innovation day. The studies focused on technology areas highlighted in the Government’s Ten Point Plan for a green industrial revolution. The seven publications in this series are: •Offshore wind power•Low-carbon hydrogen•Advanced nuclear power•Greener vehicles•Greener buildings and heat pumps•Carbon capture, usage and storage•Flood and coastal defencesResults:The number of patents being filed worldwide in these green technology areas has significantly increased over the past 20 years. This trend is reflected in the UK. For the majority of these green technology areas, China and the US have the largest absolute levels of patenting activity. When comparing the top patenting countries worldwide, the UK has a Revealed Technological Advantage (using the Relative Specialisation Index, defined as the share of an economy's patents in a particular technology field relative to the share of total patents in that economy) in wind power, nuclear power, greener buildings, jet zero and CCUS (carbon capture, usage and storage). This index also shows that the UK is particularly specialised in offshore wind power and greener buildings and is ranked 1st of the top 10 patenting countries worldwide in these two technology areas.A number of different companies also show strong patenting acitvity within the various green technology areas, with some UK companies such as Rolls Royce, Intelligent Energy and Tokamak Energy appearing amongst the top filers in their respective technology areas.Methodology:The LexisNexis PatentSight analytics platform was used for this series of research papers. The patent coverage of this database is that of DOCDB, the EPO’s database. The search strategies consisted of a combination of IPC and CPC classifications alongside relevant keywords for each green technology area.Economics, Research and Evidence team (Innovation Directorate) November 2021
