No Indian company in US top 100 patent list; China the rising star

If global rankings are an accurate indicator, India fares rather poorly in innovation, research and development. Indian companies do not figure in the Top 100 list of the most US patents granted in 2019 - the list is mostly dominated by the United States and Japan. China is the rising star.

A 2019 list, released by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, a provider of global patent data information, states that the US holds a 49 per cent share of US patents granted in 2019, up from 46 per cent in 2018. About 16 per cent of the 2019 US patents were bagged by Japan; South Korea had a seven per cent share. China increased its share to 5 per cent and is fourth in the pecking order, ahead of Germany. "China shows a nearly 35 per cent increase from 2018 and now has two companies in the Top 15," IFI CLAIMS Patent Services stated in a release.

The company added that 2019 was a strong year for US patents with 333,530 patent grants overall by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The two Chinese companies in the top 15 are Huawei Technologies (2,418 patents granted in 2019) and BOE Technology Group (2,177 granted). Another well-known Chinese name in India -- Tencent Technology Shenzhen Co - bagged 416 grants.

So which are the world's most innovative companies?

"The IFI Top 50 US patent recipients ranking for 2019 finds IBM leading the pack as it has for 27 years with 9,262- a 2 per cent increase from 2018. It is followed by Samsung Electronics with 6,469 US grants - up 11 per cent. Canon holds the third spot as it did last year, with Microsoft at #4 and Intel Corp. at #5," IFI CLAIMS Patent Services stated.

While Indian companies are not in the top 100, many Indian inventors work with these multinationals. IBM, for instance, said that the patents were granted to a diverse group of more than 8,500 IBM inventors in 54 countries. IBM inventors from India received over 900 patents, the second highest contributor to the global tally after the US.

"This is the highest number of patents ever received by IBM - or any US company. IBM Tops US Patent List for 27th Consecutive Year with Innovations in Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cloud Computing, Quantum Computing and Security," the company noted in a statement.

IBM, nevertheless, ranks No. 2 when it comes to the world's largest active patent holders or cumulative patent holdings. Samsung Electronic leads the pecking order with 76,638 granted patents. IBM has 37,304 active patents followed by Canon at 35,724.

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