A Century of Innovation

A recent report published by the World Intellectual property Organisation (WIPO) titled "The Direction of Innovation" provides a fascinating insight into patenting trends over the last 120 years.

As shown in the graph below, there has been a noticeable shift away from traditional technologies, such as machines, combustion engines and transport, which dominated the patent field in the early 1900s, towards information and communication technologies (ICTs) and semiconductors. Within the ICT field, computer technologies accounted for over 10 percent of all patents between 2010 to 2020. Biopharma has also flourished as a result of pharmaceutical innovation beginning in the 1930s, and in the past 5 years, digital-related innovation (AI, big data, IoT and cloud computing) has grown faster than all other patents combined.

The report also discusses the concepts of "deepening", where resources naturally gravitate to the most successful technological fields, and "widening", in which resources and innovation from one field spread to others:

"Knowledge and innovation flows across fields and industries provide scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs with a strong incentive to move to new fields and industries applying the technologies they have mastered. Contrary to “deepening”, when “widening” is at work, R&D and innovation resources may be efficiently relocated to areas where there is less competition and more opportunities. This widening mechanism diffuses a given technology to other fields and industries, redistributing the allocation of financial and human resources and ultimately affecting the direction of innovation".

The graph above also reflects Marks & Clerk's long history within the patent industry. Our founding partner, Dugald Clerk, was himself an inventor who designed and patented the world's first successful two-stroke engine in 1881. Clerk joined up with engineer George Croydon Marks in 1887 to form Marks & Clerk, which now operates in numerous countries worldwide, providing expertise in each of the technological fields listed above, as well as in trade marks, designs, copyright, contracts and litigation.