AI Patents
South Korea has filed the third-largest number of patents and the seventh-largest number of dissertations related to artificial intelligence (AI) technology over the past 12 years, according to a state-run information and communications promotion agency. The country has the base to take off in the AI sector in terms of sheer bulk.
According to information technology (IT) industry sources on December 21, the Institute for Information and Communications Technology Promotion (IITP) said its finding is based on AI-related technologies applied to patent bodies in the United States, Japan, China, the European Union and South Korea from January 2005 to September of this year. The U.S. ranked No. 1 in terms of AI patents, followed by Japan, South Korea, Germany, China, France, the Netherlands, Canada, the United Kingdom and Taiwan.
The U.S. also took the top spot in terms of AI dissertations published in Scopus, a well-known international abstract and citation database journal, from January 2005 to August of this year, followed by China, Japan, the U.K., Germany, India, South Korea, France, Spain and Italy.
The agency said Samsung Electronics Co. filed the most AI-related patents among South Korean organizations with 3,188 over the period. LG Electronics Inc. followed with 899 such patents, trailed by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute with 865, LG Display Co. with 350 and Samsung Display Co. and Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. with 207 each, Hyundai Motor Co. with 113, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) with 91 and SK Telecom Co. with 75.
Korea University published the most AI-related dissertations with 259, followed by University of Science and Technology with 202, KAIST with 201, Yonsei University with 198, Seoul National University with 173, Hanyang University with 140 and Sungkyunkwan University with 120.
The IITP survey was based on data related to AI patents and dissertations in all industries, such as software, hardware and online services. For instance, “smart semiconductor,” a core component of various AI products, like autonomous vehicle, or super computer, which is specialized for AI technology, were included.