The technological fields of patent applications filed in various countries can serve as a reference for industries in R&D innovation and patent portfolio strategies. To understand long-term trends in industrial development, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) made a report last year by compiling and analyzing data on Taiwan invention patent publications from 2004 to 2023 across five major industry sectors. Some highlights are summarized below.
According to the TIPO statistics, since the implementation of the invention laid-open system in Taiwan, the number of published invention applications has increased annually. The average annual growth rate can be divided into three phases: 81.9 % from 2004 to 2009, a decrease to 6.7 % (but still a positive growth) from 2010 to 2019, and a steady growth of 6.8 % from 2020 (the global COVID-19 pandemic) until 2023. By referring to WIPO International Patent Classification, invention patent technology fields are categorized into five industry sectors: Electrical engineering, Instruments, Chemistry, Mechanical engineering, and Others. TIPO performed the analysis between these industry sectors (with technology fields) and the applicant’s country/region.
Based on TIPO findings, Taiwan and WIPO have the highest publication volume of electrical engineering in 2023. Over the past 20 years, when comparing the number of laid-open applications in Taiwan and WIPO across the five industry sectors, Taiwan’s average annual growth rate of 2.0% for electrical engineering lagged behind WIPO’s 6.4 %. However, Taiwan’s average annual growth rate of 4.6% for chemical applications grew faster than WIPO’s 2.8 %. For mechanical engineering and instrumentation, Taiwan’s average annual growth rates are 3.4 % and 2.7 %, respectively, compared to WIPO’s 4.0 % and 4.2%.
In terms of the total number of Taiwan published invention applications, the average annual growth rate by applicants’ countries (origins) in the five industry sectors was highest in China (+23.7%), followed by Taiwan (+4.9%), South Korea (+4.0%), Japan (+1.2%), USA (+1.2%), and Germany (-0.7%). The table below shows the average annual growth rate of applicant origins in Taiwan’s invention publications from 2004 to 2023 by industry sectors.
| Industry sector | Taiwan | Japan | USA | China | Korea | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical Engineering | 4.20% | -1.40% | 0.30% | 2 0.9% | 3.30% | -3.40% |
| Instruments | 5.00% | -0.50% | 1.60% | 3 2.5% | 1.10% | 4.20% |
| Chemistry | 5.60% | 5.60% | 2.90% | 2 9.1% | 1 0.9% | -0.50% |
| Mechanical Engineering | 7.00% | 1.40% | -0.50% | 2 2.5% | 3.10% | -0.10% |
| Others | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Unit: Average annual growth rate　　　Source: TIPO | ||||||
Among the five industry sectors in Taiwan, electrical engineering topped the highest share of total published applications, followed by chemistry. However, between 2023 and 2004, the share of electrical engineering in 2023 was declined by 7.9 %, while the share of chemistry increased by 7.3 %. Minor growth was observed in instruments, mechanical engineering, and others. The share changes of published applications by industry sectors are shown in the table below:
| Year | Electrical Engineering | Chemistry | Instruments | Mechanical Engineering | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 50.10% | 20.00% | 14.60% | 12.00% | 3.30% |
| vs | ↓ (-7.9%) | ↓ (+7.3%) | ↓ (+0.7%) | ↓ (+1.0%) | ↓ (+0.2%) |
| 2023 | 42.20% | 27.30% | 13.90% | 13.00% | 3.50% |
| Unit: share %　　　Source: TIPO | |||||
Among Taiwan published invention applications, the electrical engineering was the main sector for applicants from Taiwan, China, the United States, and South Korea, while those of German applicants were mostly in the chemistry sector. The applications from Japanese applicants had the highest share in electrical engineering for 2004, but this shifted towards the chemical industry in 2023. The following table shows the changes in the share of Taiwan published applications by the applicant origins in the five industry sectors.
| Applicant | Year | Electrical Engineering | Chemistry | Instruments | Mechanical Engineering | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan | 2004 | 59.00% | 10.00% | 16.60% | 10.40% | 4.10% |
| 2023 | 51.50% | 11.20% | 16.70% | 15.20% | 5.30% | |
| China | 2004 | 66.10% | 16.10% | 3.20% | 9.70% | 4.80% |
| 2023 | 42.40% | 36.20% | 11.80% | 8.00% | 1.60% | |
| USA | 2004 | 51.00% | 25.20% | 11.30% | 10.10% | 2.40% |
| 2023 | 43.80% | 34.70% | 12.30% | 7.40% | 1.70% | |
| Japan | 2004 | 46.80% | 18.90% | 15.50% | 15.10% | 3.70% |
| 2023 | 28.40% | 42.40% | 11.20% | 15.80% | 2.20% | |
| Korea | 2004 | 66.30% | 7.10% | 20.30% | 4.60% | 1.70% |
| 2023 | 58.10% | 24.30% | 11.90% | 3.90% | 1.90% | |
| Germany | 2004 | 31.20% | 46.10% | 5.80% | 14.50% | 2.40% |
| 2023 | 18.60% | 47.90% | 14.50% | 16.50% | 2.50% | |
| Unit: share %　　　Source: TIPO | ||||||
Furthermore, according to the technical fields covered by the five industry sectors, the top ten fields for Taiwan’s invention publications in 2023 are semiconductors, computing technology, electrical machinery and energy devices, optics, audio-visual technology, pharmaceuticals, polymer chemistry, surface treatment, measurement, and organic fine chemistry. The following table shows the distribution of applicant origins and their respective technology fields for Taiwan published invention applications in 2023.
| Industry Sector | Technical Field | Taiwan | Japan | USA | Korea | China | Germany | Other Countries (regions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical Engineering | Semiconductors | 40.10% | 25.40% | 13.80% | 9.30% | 5.90% | 0.60% | 4.80% |
| Computing Technology | 50.20% | 9.30% | 19.00% | 7.70% | 7.10% | 0.60% | 6.00% | |
| Electrical machinery and energy devices | 45.20% | 20.70% | 15.10% | 1.80% | 7.10% | 2.10% | 8.10% | |
| Audio-visual Technology | 51.40% | 11.70% | 11.70% | 6.80% | 12.00% | 1.30% | 5.00% | |
| Instruments | Optics | 33.10% | 24.40% | 14.00% | 7.70% | 7.40% | 2.70% | 10.60% |
| Measurement | 46.40% | 19.10% | 14.70% | 4.60% | 6.10% | 2.20% | 6.90% | |
| Chemistry | Pharmaceuticals | 16.50% | 13.30% | 33.80% | 3.20% | 15.60% | 2.40% | 15.30% |
| Polymers | 6.80% | 67.90% | 10.90% | 6.50% | 2.10% | 3.20% | 2.70% | |
| Surface Treatment | 14.30% | 45.80% | 16.00% | 4.50% | 9.50% | 2.40% | 7.60% | |
| Organic fine chemistry | 25.90% | 27.30% | 5.90% | 9.00% | 14.60% | 5.70% | 11.50% | |
| Unit: share % by applicant origins　　　Source: TIPO | ||||||||
With the rapid advancement of technology and the development of artificial intelligence, it has become common for invention technology to overlap multiple patent classifications. Notably, most countries use the International Patent Classification (IPC) system for patent examination, classification, and patent search, while Japan employs its own FI /F-term (File Index, File Forming Term) classification system. Some advanced countries are adopting the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) system to accommodate the rapid development of new technologies and the global expansion of businesses. Compared to the IPC ‘s 70,000 classification codes, the CPC has 260,000 codes for more refined technical classes, moreover, it is frequently updated and thus resulting in stronger search and analysis capabilities.
Industrial innovation often requires technological integration across different fields. If an invention includes several technical features spanning multiple classifications, the Applicant must ensure that these technical features are interrelated and collectively contribute to solving a specific problem, thereby satisfy the requirement of unity of invention. In practice, Taiwan’s Examiner may request the Applicant to file a response on patent claims that lack identical or corresponding technical features before conducting the prior art searches.
