Frogs in Well
Companies in other countries are waging patent wars at home and abroad to dominate future industries like smart cars and cutting-edge complex materials, but Korea is said to only focus on local patent applications.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the Korea Intellectual Property Office announced the results of their analysis of patents for 13 future growth industries at a fifth special committee meeting for future growth engines on July 23.
They analyzed 100,000 patents filed in Korea, the U.S., Japan, and Europe over the past 12 years centered on technology competitiveness by the tech industry. Korea, on the whole, did not lag behind advanced countries in the sheer number of patent applications, but the weight of the nation in the number of patents granted in the U.S., Japan, Europe, and China was only 10.6 percent, much lower than the 35.9 percent of the U.S. or the 31.4 percent of Japan. As for the number of cited patents, which is a barometer of patent quality, the figure for Korea was 5.2 cases on average, half of the 11.3 cases for the U.S. The data shows that it is necessary for Korea to develop core techs with far-reaching influence.
Among 13 future growth engines, Korea was found to be the most competitive in wearable smart devices and immersive content. On the other hand, the nation has only a middling level of competitiveness in 11 fields, including smart cars, 5G communications, and intelligent robots. It was found that the number of patent applications by local companies' for customized health and wellness care and complex materials was very small. And the figure for Korea's related patents granted in other major countries was inadequate as well. Hence, the nation's competitive advantage in those two areas was at a low level. In terms of the share of patents, Korea's weights in Intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G communications was 73.8 percent and 67.0 percent, respectively, showing a sharp increase in the proportion of patent applications in the two fields. However, the ratio of intelligent semiconductors and complex materials marked a slower 34.5 percent each.
Local organizations such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute comprised a large proportion of total patent applications for 5G communications and the IoT. However, Qualcomm filed a large number of patents in both the U.S. and Korea as well. Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE were also actively engaged in patent applications, thereby entering the top 10 in patent application rankings for the first time.
In the field of wearable smart devices, Samsung Electronics topped the list, and Samsung SDI, LG Chem, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics followed. But it was found that U.S. startups recently filed an increasing number of patents in smart bands and smart glasses.
When it comes to offshore plants, three local major shipbuilders – Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Heavy Industries – ranked first, second, and third in patent applications, but more than 90 percent of those patents were filed at home. In contrast, global enterprises like Exxon Mobil and Chevron filed patents mainly in the U.S.
Toyota filed the largest number of patents for smart cars, followed by Denso, Honda, and Hyundai Motor. Japanese firms filed patents mostly in the U.S., whereas Korean companies did locally.