The CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX (CEPGI), published quarterly by the Cleantech Group at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. provides an indication of the trend of innovative activity in the Clean Energy sector. Results from the second quarter of 2014 reveal the CEPGI to have a value of 940 granted U.S. patents, which is the highest total for any quarter on record. This is also 250 higher than the first quarter of this year and 25 more than the fourth quarter of 2013 (which was the previous highest quarterly total on record), along with being almost 200 more than one year prior. The clean energy patent crown has become a hot potato as Toyota took the top spot back from GM, the winner from the first quarter after taking the crown from its Japanese competitor. Solar patents were at a new high and again led the other technology sectors in the second quarter for the fifth quarter in a row - leading runner up Fuel Cells by over 70 patents with Fuel Cells having jumped 60 patents compared to the previous quarter.
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The granting of patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is often cited as a measure of the inventive activity and evidence of the effectiveness of research & development investments. Patents are considered to be such an indicator, because to be awarded a patent, it requires not only the efforts of inventors to develop new and non- obvious innovations but also successful handling by patent counsel to shepherd a patent application through the PTO. Thus, the granting of a patent is an indicator that efforts at innovation have been successful and that an innovation had enough perceived value to justify the time and expense in procuring the patent.
The CEPGI (shown below quarterly) tracks the granting of U.S. patents for the following sub-components: Solar, Wind, Hybrid/Electric Vehicles, Fuel Cells, Hydroelectric, Tidal/Wave, Geothermal, Biomass/Biofuels and Other Clean Renewable Energy.
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Solar patents (306) jumped 55 from the first quarter to reach a new high by almost 30 compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, and were up 60 over the second quarter of the same year. Fuel Cells (232) jumped 70 patents over the first quarter and were up 23 over the year before, but trailed Solar patents by over 70 patents in the second quarter. Wind patents jumped 43 in the second quarter compared to the quarter before while being up 25 versus the same period of the year prior.
Hybrid/Electric Vehicles joined the other sectors in gaining relative to the first quarter of 2013 and had the largest jump (63) of any of the other sectors while also being up 48 compared to the same period of a year prior. Tidal patents dropped 4 to arrive at 16 patents in the second quarter after dropping 6 in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter and being down 6 versus the year before.
Biofuel/Biomass patents hit a new high of 71 granted patents which was four more than the previous high set in the fourth quarter and almost twenty higher than the first quarter of this year. Geothermal patents (5) were down one and Hydroelectric patents up one compared to the first quarter with Hydroelectric patents down one and Geothermal down two compared to the same quarter a year prior.
Trading the quarterly clean energy patent crown again, this time it was Toyota borrowing it back again from GM with the two automakers separated by three patents. Toyota's 33 patents were in Fuel Cells (23) and Hybrid/Electric Vehicles (10) while GM's 30 patents were slightly more diverse with its 21 Fuel Cell and 7 Hybrid/Electric Vehicle patents bolstered by two patents each in Solar and Biomass/Biofuels. Vestas and Samsung tied for the third spot with totally different portfolios. As would be expected, Vestas' 26 patents were all in Wind technology which led the field in this technology while Samsung had 14 Fuel Cell, 11 Solar and 1 Biofuel/Biomass patents.
Auto companies took the next three places with Honda (24), Hyundai, and Ford descending in the number of patents separated by intervals of two. As would be expected, these companies had patents primarily in Fuel Cells and Hybrid/Electric Vehicles. Out of the ordinary, Honda and Hyundai each had one patent in Solar technologies. Honda's other patents were 16 Fuel Cell and 7 Hybrid/Electric Vehicles. Hyundai had 8 Fuel Cell and 13 Hybrid/Electric Vehicle patents while Ford had more Hybrid/Electric Vehicle (13) than Fuel Cell (6) patents, and led all others in the top ten in the Hybrid/Electric Vehicle category.
GE fittingly had patents in almost all the categories given all of its varied businesses, gaining the most in Wind (11) to trail Vestas in a reverse of the recent annual rankings while also being granted 2 patents in Hybrid/Electric Vehicles, one in Solar, one in Biomass/Biofuels, and 1 patent in Other technologies. Mitsubishi and Panasonic rounded out the top ten clean energy patent leaders for the second quarter with Mitsubishi trailing GE in Wind patents by only one while having 3 patents in Hybrid/Electric Vehicle technologies and 2 patents in Other technologies. Panasonic also had 4 Hybrid/Electric Vehicle patents but split with Mitsubishi by having 9 Fuel Cell patents and 1 in Solar technologies.
In a replay from the first quarter, despite there being more Solar patents granted in the second quarter than the other technologies, among the top ten Clean Energy patent grantees, the number of Fuel Cell patents (97) in this subset far exceeded those in the other technologies. In fact, Solar patents (17) also trailed Hybrid/Electric Vehicles (60) and Wind (47).
Geographically, Japan again led non-U.S. holders of U.S. Clean Energy patents and individual U.S. states, as depicted below in the geographic charts, to take the quarterly geographical Clean Energy patent crown. The Asian powerhouse had 183 patents which was up 68 from the first quarter and up 36 from the same period a year before. California trailed Japan by 85 and led all US states after jumping 13 from the first quarter and with 12 more than the second quarter of last year. Next up at 7 less than the Golden State was Germany which overtook Korea compared to the first quarter and took the third spot with 92 clean energy patents granted in the second quarter, which was 41 more than the first quarter and 53 more than a year prior. Korea was two behind Germany and was up 22 and 39, compared to quarter before and a year prior, respectively.
Behind Korea by 45 was Michigan in fifth place which dropped 17 compared to the same period a year ago but was up 13 versus the first quarter. Taiwan was next in clean energy patents granted and had 38 granted, up 15 versus the first quarter and 3 compared to a year prior. New York swapped places with Taiwan versus the first quarter and trailed by 7. The Empire State was up 5 compared to the previous quarter but was down 4 compared to the second quarter of 2013.
Denmark added 9 clean energy patents compared to the first quarter to arrive at 30 while jumping 14 compared to a year prior. France followed trailing by 6 to take ninth place with 24 patents and jumped 15 versus the first quarter and 14 versus second quarter of 2013. Texas tied France to round out the top 10 and was up 9 up the first quarter and down 3 compared to a year prior. Others of note were Ohio (15), Canada (14), Delaware (13), Massachusetts (12), Colorado (12), Florida (11), New Jersey (11), Pennsylvania (11), Arizona (10), and China (10).
Of the clean energy patents granted in the second quarter, 387 were owned by US entities while 553 were owned by those outside the US.
Clean energy patent grant rates by quarter for various countries and states are depicted below:
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Trend lines by quarter through the second quarter of 2014 for the CEPGI and for each of the CEPGI components are depicted below:
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CEPGI yearly totals through 2013 are depicted below:
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The CEPGI is updated quarterly and is occasionally supplemented with related articles posted on www.cleanenergypatentgrowthindex.com or http://www.cepgi.com/
Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions or would like us to email you when we have updated this page or the CEPGI.
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