Back to news menu

WIPO publishes report on technology trends

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has published the first report of a new initiative that seeks to monitor technological development by analyzing data related to innovative activities. Entitled “WIPO Technology Trends”, the study received contributions from experts in the area of ​​artificial intelligence (AI) and revealed trends in the field of AI patents.

Since 1960, more than 340,000 applications for AI patents and 1.6 million scientific documents have been filed. Robotics is one of the areas with the highest growth in AI patent applications, with an annual increase of 55%.

The report also informs that machine learning technology accounts for more than a third of patent applications. In parallel, one of its subspecies, deep learning, demonstrated the highest growth in AI technique applications, with an increase from 118 applications in 2013 to 2,399 in 2016.

Among the conclusions of the study, WIPO published a ranking with the academic and industry entities that stood out in the AI ​​sector. Occupying the leadership, International Business Machines (IBM) and Microsoft present the highest number of patent applications for AI, accounting for 8,290 and 5,930 patent applications, respectively.

More information is available at https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2019/article_0001.html