Eight years is a very long time on the planet of patents. Once we final printed what we then referred to as the Patent Energy Scorecard, in 2017, it was a distinct technological and social panorama—Google had simply filed a patent application on the transformer architecture, a momentous advance that spawned the generative AI revolution. China was simply starting to provide high quality, reasonably priced electric vehicles at scale. And the COVID pandemic wasn’t on anybody’s dance card.
Eight years can be a very long time on the planet of magazines, the place we usually mess around with codecs for articles and infographics. We now have extra readers on-line than we do in print, so our artwork staff is leveraging advances in interactive design software program to make advanced datasets grokkable at a look, whether or not you’re in your telephone or flipping by the pages of the journal.
The scorecard’s return in this issue follows the return final month of The Knowledge, which ran as our again web page for a number of years; it’s curated by a distinct editor each month and edited by Editorial Director for Content material Improvement Glenn Zorpette.
As we got down to recast the scorecard for this decade, we sought to strike the correct stability between comprehensiveness and readability, particularly on a mobile-phone display. As our Digital Product Designer Erik Vrielink, Assistant Editor Gwendolyn Rak, and Neighborhood Supervisor Kohava Mendelsohn defined to me, they needed one thing that may be eye-catching whereas avoiding information overload. The answer they arrived at—a dynamic sunburst visualization—lets readers grasp the important takeaways at look in print, whereas the digital version, permits readers to dive as deep as they need into the info.
Working with sci-tech-focused data-mining firm 1790 Analytics, which we partnered with on the unique Patent Power Scorecard, the staff prioritized three key metrics or traits: patent Pipeline Energy (which matches past mere amount to evaluate high quality and affect), variety of patents, and the nation the place corporations are primarily based. This final attribute has turn into more and more important as geopolitical tensions reshape the worldwide know-how panorama. As 1790 Analytics cofounders Anthony Breitzman and Patrick Thomas word, the following few years might be significantly fascinating as organizations modify their patenting methods in response to altering market entry.
Some tendencies leap out instantly. In consumer electronics, Apple dominates Pipeline Energy regardless of having a patent portfolio one-third the dimensions of Samsung’s—a testomony to the Cupertino firm’s deal with high-impact improvements. The aerospace sector has seen dramatic consolidation, with RTX (previously Raytheon Applied sciences) now encompassing a number of subsidiaries that seem individually on our scorecard.
And within the college rankings, Harvard has seized the highest spot from conventional tech powerhouses like MIT and Stanford, pushed by patents which can be extra usually cited as prior artwork in different latest patents. After which there are the delicate shifts that turn into obvious solely while you dig deeper into the info. The rise of SEL (Semiconductor Energy Laboratory) over TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) in semiconductor design, regardless of having far fewer patents, suggests once more that true innovation isn’t nearly submitting patents—it’s about creating applied sciences that others construct upon.
Wanting forward, the true take a look at will likely be how these patent portfolios translate into precise services. Patents are guarantees of innovation; the scorecard helps us see what corporations are making these guarantees and the R&D investments to appreciate them. As we enter an period when technological management more and more determines financial and strategic energy, understanding these patterns is extra essential than ever.
From Your Website Articles
Associated Articles Across the Net
