Will Glasgow Climate Pact drive up green-tech innovation?

Will the Glasgow Climate Pact drive even higher levels of innovation (and patenting activity) as we look for solutions to the climate crisis?

In October more than 100 world leaders and an estimated 20,000 delegates flocked to Glasgow for COP26.  Their agenda was simple.  They were there to work out how best to tackle the escalating climate crisis.  One of the outcomes from COP26 was The Glasgow Climate Pact. 

A large part of The Glasgow Climate Pact is a firm commitment from all parties to come forward with enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) during 2022.  NDCs formed the heart of the Paris Agreement.  They were designed to set out how each signatory will achieve their long-term environmental goals, reduce national emissions and adapt positively to combat the impacts of climate change.   

The Glasgow  Climate Pact will expediate the current plans by ramping up activity to meet the Paris Agreement’s temperature goals by 2030.

The Pact has also implored governments to “accelerate the development, deployment and dissemination of technologies, and the adoption of policies, to transition towards low-emission energy system”. 

This is the first time such language has been included in COP decisions and has placed a much stronger emphasis on the part innovation will need to play in slowing the effects of the climate crisis. 

And where there is increased innovation, there is always the question as to how this will affect the patent landscape.

The UK IPO recently published a very detailed set of reports on patent activity within the various strands of the green/environmental/cleantech technologies and we’d like to summarise their conclusions to provide you with an overview of how it appears technology and innovation are attempting to help the UK realise its aim to become the first major economy to set reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Patent activity in carbon capture  

There has been a significant increase in patent applications covering carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in recent years.

From a global perspective this increased level of activity is led by major US corporates including  Exxon Mobil and patent owners are looking for protection in the US, China and Europe.

From a UK perspective it is interesting to note that at its peak the majority of CCS patent applications were being filed by companies based outside of the UK while the patents filed by UK-based companies peaked in 2010 before stabilising in 2014.

It appears from the available information that Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), an important emissions reduction technology that can be applied across the energy system, is the area enjoying most growth.  This is likely to be because the UK government is significantly investing in the development of CCUS facilities in the UK and this could influence how patenting activity develops over the next few years.

Patent activity in greener vehicles

While ‘greener vehicles’ is a very broad church that covers automobiles, public transport, shipping and aviation, enormous attempts are being made to lower the environmental impact every type of vehicle is having on the environment.

This need is so significant that three of the points in the government’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution mention transport, both generally and more specifically using examples like Jet Zero.  It is therefore no surprise that between 2001-2018 there has been a massive increase in relevant patenting activity.

The UK is performing strongly.  Overall active patent families belonging to UK owners have increased between 2001 and 2018 and when we look at specific challenges like Jet Zero, the data shows major UK manufacturers like Rolls-Royce are working hard to bring us closer to net zero-emission aviation.

We would expect patent activity around greener vehicles to continue to grow given the growing pressure being put on OEMs to find and market more environmentally friendly modes of transport.  And as aviation can make the most dramatic difference to emission levels it looks likely that activity in areas like Jet Zero will increase at the fastest rate.

Read the UK IP Office report “Greener Vehicles” for more details of patenting activity in this area.

Patent activity in wind and offshore wind power

Patenting activity related to wind power increased across the world between 2001 and 2018 but unfortunately the trend is not reflected in the UK.  During this period the most prolific patent filers were the State Grid Corporation (China), General Electric (US) and Vestas (Denmark).

However, the reason the UK has not been as active could be that UK innovators’ endeavours in this area are more specialised, a view supported by the supporting data being produced by the Relative Specialization Index (RSI), an international indicator that measures the research profile of a country by comparing its activity with its share of a given field.

The picture in the offshore wind power sector is similar. 

There has been in an increase in patenting worldwide – dominated this time by Vestas, Siemens Energy and General Electric – but in the UK there has been a lower number of patents filed although again the subject matter of these patents appears to be more specialised with more offshore related patents than more general wind power patents.

If we look at future developments, we feel the UK government’s plans to develop more floating offshore wind capabilities will shortly have a direct impact on the number of patents filed in this area.

Read the UK IP Office report “Offshore Wind Power” for more details of patenting activity in this area.

Patent activity in green buildings and heat pumps

At the moment a great deal more patents are being filed for inventions relating to greener building technologies than there are for heat pumps.  In fact, there are still very few patents being filed for heat pumps, particularly in the UK. 

If we look globally, the number of greener building patents has increased steadily between 2001 and 2018 which suggests this is an area of technology that is continuing to develop at pace.

However, with governments all over the world (particularly the UK where The Green Heat Network Fund, a £270 million scheme supporting the commercialisation of low carbon heat network projects has just been launched) looking to find cheaper and more environmentally friendly methods of heating homes, we think it’s fair to expect an increase in R&D relating to heat pump technology and an exponential increase in patenting activity as the technology develops. 

WIPO Global Innovation Index (GII) – 2021 Edition

The 14th edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) has just been published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). 

Since the first edition was released in 2007, the GII has become an invaluable tool with which to measure innovation.  As always, the 2021 edition ranks the innovation taking place in 132 global economies by using 81 indicators, but this edition also introduces a ‘Global Innovation Tracker’.  This examines innovation trends against the various stages of the innovation journey, namely: science and innovations investments; technological progress; and socioeconomic impact.

Understandably, the coverage in this year’s report contains an additional feature focussing on the one theme that has affected all our lives over the last 18 months, ‘Tracking Innovation through the COVID-19 Crisis’.

How has COVID-19 influenced innovation?

According to the 2021 GII governments and enterprises in many parts of the world scaled up their investment in innovation despite the massive human and economic cost of the pandemic.  The Index shows “a growing acknowledgement that new ideas are critical for overcoming the pandemic and for ensuring post-pandemic economic growth.”

Before adding that R&D expenditure appeared to be more resilient to the downturn caused by the pandemic than it had been to previous slumps, the narrative also admits “the impact of the crisis has been highly uneven across industries”. 

Businesses producing software, internet and communications technologies, the hardware and electrical equipment industry and pharmaceuticals and biotechnology increased their investment in innovation and R&D.  Conversely, those whose businesses rely on in-person activities – for example transport and travel –  reduced their investment.

WIPO Director General Daren Tang was quick to underline the impressive way innovation has continued to grow during the last 18 months and the vital role it will play during the recovery:

“This year’s Global Innovation Index shows us that in spite of the massive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on lives and livelihoods, many sectors have shown remarkable resilience – especially those that have embraced digitalization, technology and innovation.  As the world looks to rebuild from the pandemic, we know that innovation is integral to overcoming the common challenges that we face and to constructing a better future.”

What other trends in innovation has the 2021 GII discovered?


WIPO shared some of their key findings in the press release that accompanied the launch of the GII. 

The volume of venture capital deals is growing.  Activity increased by 5.8% in 2020 which was higher than the average rate of growth over the last decade. 

The publication of scientific articles across the world also grew by 7.6% in 2020.  Arguably this could also have been a by-product of the pandemic given some academics had greater flexibility due to having to work from home.

Which countries does the GII rank as the world’s most innovative?

Looking more closely at the innovations in levels in individual countries the GII reported:

  • Seven European countries continue to rank in the global top 10 including Switzerland (No1) who have topped the ranking for the last eleven years and Sweden (No2) who together lead in “international patent applications filed via WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)”.
  • The U.S.A. has stayed in 3rd place for the third year in a row.  It also led the way in “key metrics such as patents by origin, the quality of its universities and the impact of its scientific publications and in R&D intensive global companies”.
  • The UK maintains it’s position at number 4 in the GII and leads Europe in the quality of its universities and the impact of its scientific publications.
  • The other European countries in the global top 10 are The Netherlands (6) , Finland (7), Denmark (9) and Germany (10).
  • India (46) continues to maintain its position as the world leaders in “the indicator of exports of ICT services”, South Korea (5) improved its position in the indicators related to “trademarks, global brand value, and cultural and creative services export” and China (12) boasted “19 of the top science and technology clusters worldwide – with Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou and Beijing in the 2nd and 3rd spots, respectively”.
  • Korea, India and China are joined in the global top 20 by Singapore (8), Japan (13) and Hong Kong (14).

How is the geography of global innovation changing?

The word the GII uses is “unevenly” but there may be signs this is changing.

Although the findings show North America and Europe continue to lead the global innovation landscape,  the performance of South East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania is currently the most dynamic and they are closing the gap.

There is also still a definite bias toward high income economies too and China is still the only middle-income economy to make it into the top 30.  However, Bulgaria (35), Malaysia (36), Turkey (41), Thailand (43), Viet Nam (44), the Russian Federation (45), India (46), Ukraine (49), and Montenegro (50) have all climbed into top 50. 

This could again be a signal change is afoot but in real terms only Turkey, Viet Nam, India and the Philippines are actually catching up.  Other than China, these are the only economies with the potential to make any significant changes to the global innovation landscape and that change will only happen (according to Soumitra Dutta, Professor of Management at Cornell University) if these countries are:

“Able to successfully complement their domestic innovation with international technology transfer, develop technologically dynamic services that can be traded internationally, and ultimately have shaped more balanced innovation systems”.

How to get Prioritized Patent Examination in the US

The USPTO has just increased the annual limit on the number of applications that can be submitted via its Track One prioritized examination program from 10,000 to 12,000 – so what is it? and why might you want to use it?

What is Track One?

The US Patent and Trade Mark Office, USPTO, Prioritized Patent Examination Program, called ‘Track One’, was launched in 2011 as part of the America Invents Act changes to US patent law.

Track One aims to deliver a final decision on a patent application within 12 months. This can be attractive if you need to get your US patent granted quickly, and there are less requirements involved with Track One than there are with the USPTO’s Accelerated Examination Program.

Entry onto the Track One program requires the filing of a request and payment of a $4000 Track One prioritized examination fee (although this is discounted to $2000 for small entities or $1000 for ‘micro’ entities) and a processing fee.

Why should you use Track One?

While there is an additional cost, the reduction in time is significant.

The average time for a US patent application to complete examination is over 27 months.  With Track One it goes down to 7.8 months.

Track One applications also start the examination process much earlier.  A first Examination Report is usually issued by the USPTO within 3.4 months of filing a Track One request, compared to over 18 months in the case of a standard application.

This means that if speeding up your application is your primary objective, Track One offers an attractive alternative.

However, speed is not the only benefit. 

A 2015 analysis for IP Watchdog found that allowance rates were 19% higher for US patent applications on Track One than for standard applications.  And in their analysis the following year IP Watchdog found that not only were allowance rates higher, but also that Track One requests enjoyed shorter examination timelines and fewer examination reports (although applicants who entered the Track One program after filing a Request for Continued Examination, RCE, appeared to receive fewer of these benefits).

When can you use Track One?

A US patent application is eligible for Track One if:

  • It has no more than four independent claims
  • It has no more than thirty total claims
  • It has no multiple dependent claims

Both first filings and continuing applications (what we would call ‘divisional applications’) are eligible for Track One.

The point of Track One is to seriously speed up examination, so an application will lose its Track One status if you:

  • Request an extension of time
  • File an amendment that contains more than four independent claims/more than thirty total claims/a multiple dependent claim
  • File a Request for Continued Examination, RCE
  • Receive a final Office Action from the USPTO
  • Abandon the application

What to consider before using Track One

Track One applications enjoy higher allowance rates and shorter examination timelines than standard US patent applications.  However, if you are considering using Track One, you will need to balance the potential benefits of speeding up the potential grant (or refusal) of your application against your commercial objectives and, more pointedly, the cost of a Track One request.

Better still, why not have that conversation with a Two IP patent attorney? We have years of experience advising clients on US patent protection and long standing relationships with expert US patent attorneys.