Page 5 - AsiaElec Week 17 2021

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

“This calls for massive leaps in innovation,
but up until now information on the progress worldwide.
being made has been limited. By combining As patent applications are filed many months,
the complementary strengths of the IEA and or even years, before products appear on the
the EPO, this report gives us a stronger founda- market, they are often seen as an early indicator
tion for identifying and tracking strengths and of future technological trends.
weaknesses in low-carbon energy patenting, Since 2000, businesses around the globe have
providing a much better picture of the state of filed more than 420,000 patents in the area of
the energy transition.’’ low-carbon energy. Inventions in low-carbon
energy supply technologies such as electricity
Speed of innovation generation from renewable sources have been
A key take-away from the patent data is that the falling since 2012, reflecting the maturity of “Enabling”
speed of innovation and research must increase some of these technologies.
if the world is to meet the Paris Agreement cli- End-use applications such as transport, build- technologies
mate goals by 2030. ings or industrial production have remained
Further ahead, the ambitions of many major relatively stable in recent years, and accounted such as batteries,
governments such as the US, China, Japan, the for the majority (60%) of all low-carbon energy
EU and the UK to reach net zero by 2050 or 2060 inventions over the past five years. hydrogen, smart
is dependent on new technologies and their By contrast, “enabling” technologies such grids and carbon
scaling-up to widespread use. as batteries, hydrogen, smart grids and carbon
“The energy transition needed to mitigate capture have experienced the strongest growth capture have
climate change presents a challenge of enor- since 2017.
mous scale and complexity,” said EPO President The report found that in end-use sectors, experienced the
António Campinos. “This report is a clear call the fast development of electric vehicles (EVs)
for action to step up research and innovation and their associated infrastructure have been strongest growth
into new low-carbon energy technologies, and the most powerful drivers of innovation in LCE since 2017
improve existing ones. While it reveals some technologies over the past decade.
encouraging trends across countries and indus- There are significant patenting activities in
try sectors, including in key cross-cutting tech- the “hard-to-abate” sectors such as metals, with
nologies, it also highlights the need to further innovation in both energy efficiency and direct
accelerate innovation in clean energy technolo- abatement (CCUS).
gies, some of which are still only emerging.” The study finds that European companies and
research institutes have led in patenting low-car-
Future technology trends bon energy inventions, with 28% of all interna-
The report presents the major trends in low-car- tional patents in the past decade (2010-19),
bon energy innovation between 2000 and 2019 followed by Japanese (25%), US (20%), South
measured in terms of international patent fam- Korean (10%) and Chinese (8%) applicants.
ilies (IPFs), each of which represents a high- However, Japan leads in EV technology and
value invention for which patent applications batteries, and the United States has an edge in
have been filed at two or more patent offices aviation, biofuels and carbon capture. ™

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