Technology innovation is gaining pace in India with Indian companies having filed 1,38,000 tech patents in India from 2015 to 2021, according to the India Patents report launched by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom).
The report is one among a series of Nasscom’s Emerging Technology-focused reports that aims to understand how Indian technology companies are creating IP assets in their largest market. It marks the start of our IP charter for FY2023, which will be followed by a deep dive analysis into the tech patents filed in India.
US — a key market
As per the report, the US remains a key export market for India. Over 9,500 patents were filed by India domiciled companies in the US between 2015-2021, an increase of ~47 per cent over 2015 and 2019. “The US continues to witness increased patent filing from Indian companies as it remains a key export market,” the report said.
US accounted for ~62 per cent of tech exports in FY2022, and would continue to drive share of tech patents, the report said. 65 per cent of the total patents filed in the US in 2020/21 by India domiciled companies were in the technology domain, as compared to 55 per cent in 2019. Further, ~45 per cent of the technology patents filed have been granted.
Role of start-ups
Start-ups have been key contributors in terms of technology innovation. Over 60 per cent of the technology patents were filed by Indian companies and start-ups while 16.7 per cent of the tech patents were filed by Individual inventors/Academia-Research which witnessed the highest growth of 60 per cent.
Overall, more than 400 technology patents were filed by Indian start-ups during 2015-2021, an increase of ~45 per cent from 280 patents in the 2015-2019 period. In terms of key segments, 21 per cent of the tech patents were related to Software Applications and Healthcare and Medical Devices, the leading segments.
“Focus for start-ups continues to be led by Health and Medical Devices, while it continues to be led by software applications for the larger assignee group,” as per the report. “Share of Communication Technology, IoT and Cyber Security patents have increased over the last two years,” it further added.
Emerging technologies
According to the report, the share of emerging technologies continues to grow in technology patents. Over 50 per cent of the patents filed during 2015-2021 were related to emerging technologies. AI patents more than doubled in the period 2015-2021 compared to 2015-19. Over 1,300 patents were filed in the AI domain during 2015-2021.
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to lead in terms of total patents filed under various emerging technology domains,” the report said. Machine Learning patents grew by over 2X maintaining its lead in AI.
In growth terms, IoT was in the lead with a growth of 45 per cent in 2015-2020/21 compared to 2015-19. Cloud Computing remained another key emerging area accounting for a growth of 33.6 per cent while cybersecurity accounted for the majority share of granted patents in 2015-2020/21 at 27.4 per cent.
Published on
April 25, 2022
