2024-07-19 15:27:32
Europe is the world leader in the development of new technologies in the water sector, according to a study published by the European Patent Office, reports the Bulgarian patent, quoted by BTA.
The report, which examines international patent families (IPFs), finds that companies, researchers and inventors from the 39 EPO member states account for 40 percent of all IPFs in the field of water-related technologies.
For the period 1992-2021, European inventors are leaders in all major areas of water technology – from drinking water collection and efficient water use, to wastewater treatment and flood protection.
According to the United Nations, in 2022, 2.2 billion people do not have access to safely managed drinking water and 3.5 billion do not have safe sanitation services. In addition, droughts and floods cause large numbers of deaths and economic losses of billions each year.
“Water is one of our most valuable resources,” said the president of the European Patent Office, Antonio Campinhos, on the occasion of the study. “Given the threats posed by climate change, innovation must accelerate even more in the coming decades – both in water supply and in protection from water-related hazards. Our new research and tools provide developers with policy makers and the public high-quality data and analysis of the water technology landscape and support innovators in developing innovative solutions to address water challenges.”
Water purification is the biggest focus for inventions, with Europe leading the way
According to the study, between 1992 and 2021, more than 22,000 intellectual property applications in the field of water-related technologies were filed worldwide. The largest area for invention is water treatment, which accounts for about 60 percent of all IPFs. Europe has a strong lead in water inventions, followed by the USA (with 23 percent of all water-related IPFs), Japan (12 percent), China (6 percent) and the Republic of Korea (5 per hundred). The leading European countries are Germany (12 percent), France (5 percent), the United Kingdom (4 percent), the Netherlands (3 percent) and Italy (3 percent).
Big companies dominate, but university innovation is on the rise
The largest patent applicants in the field of water technology are Veolia (France), Xylem (USA) and Kurita (Japan). But the contribution of universities and public research organizations has grown significantly, from less than 5 percent of all water-related IPFs in the 1990s to 14 percent over the period: 2017-2021. Top universities/ research institutes are the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing University (China) and CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research, France).
Improving access to information on water technologies
In cooperation with national patent offices in Europe, the EPO has also developed a new technological platform for innovation in the field of water. The free platform enables scientists, governments and businesses to more easily navigate its online patent database of over 150 million documents and thus find information on the latest advances in the water sector. In addition, the EPO has updated its free Deep Tech Finder service to help investors and potential partners connect with over 100 start-ups with European patent applications for water-related inventions from across Europe.