2015 to 2024

Patent Index

Each country's international patent families in each domain of the National Capability Framework that the patent classifications reach. A first reading, on a crosswalk that nobody has yet reviewed: a count of inventions, not a measure of how well a capability is held.

Countries by domain

International patent families, 2015 to 2024, by country of origin and domain; the leader in each domain is in bold. A family counts once in each domain it reaches. Production & Innovation counts every family.


Japan	775,899	294,824	282,857	4,759	60,420	17,576	17,422	4,765	15,481
United States	719,368	327,799	327,138	13,886	168,837	21,771	18,824	11,600	18,115
China	678,233	277,919	285,858	6,391	64,591	19,386	16,257	5,786	10,545
South Korea	351,396	165,722	133,825	2,676	36,127	10,840	9,963	3,270	7,803
Germany	298,587	85,652	109,270	3,670	29,686	2,011	5,674	1,804	6,030
France	110,421	36,088	44,346	2,125	14,738	1,994	2,432	817	2,446
Taiwan	107,651	50,311	42,553	699	8,046	2,838	2,861	525	1,082
United Kingdom	69,989	23,822	25,552	1,681	14,539	1,810	1,807	922	1,532
Switzerland	66,788	16,227	21,427	521	15,543	794	1,222	834	1,104
Italy	52,879	8,217	16,899	418	6,778	767	917	255	1,086
Netherlands	52,363	18,539	21,625	400	12,606	591	846	180	724
Sweden	47,637	23,112	25,669	1,021	3,947	791	1,448	271	695
Canada	40,013	14,367	20,300	734	8,084	1,515	1,317	1,065	1,717
Finland	27,005	15,457	17,081	761	1,670	798	557	137	489
India	23,446	7,705	10,583	315	6,100	638	601	462	823
Austria	23,376	5,280	8,748	258	1,927	374	405	117	495
Israel	21,927	9,464	9,402	993	8,686	571	744	305	436
Spain	19,862	5,162	7,175	223	4,112	467	440	135	333
Singapore	19,585	10,405	9,640	309	3,125	663	571	513	603
Australia	18,710	5,898	7,996	317	5,320	1,012	840	420	955
Denmark	18,096	7,150	7,632	82	3,994	260	242	48	382
Türkiye	17,848	3,429	5,261	508	3,567	386	406	284	423
Belgium	17,834	5,503	5,515	160	3,530	187	233	74	334
Ireland	9,678	2,862	3,643	139	3,198	250	272	166	227
Russia	9,671	2,796	4,131	503	1,645	311	321	155	215

What each of the two largest leans towards

A class's share of one country's international families against its share of the other's, 2015 to 2024. 3.0× means the class takes three times the share there. Classes with fewer than 10,000 families between the two are left out.

China leans towards

G09 Education

F24 Heating

F21 Lighting

H10 Semiconductor devices

G02 Optics

H04 Electric communication technique

H01 Electric elements

G03 Photography

F25 Refrigeration or cooling

H02 Generation

2.5×

1.7×

1.5×

1.4×

1.3×

1.2×

1.1×

The United States leans towards

F02 Combustion engines

F05 Indexing schemes relating to engines or pumps in various subclasses of classes f01-f04

F01 Machines or engines in general

B33 Additive manufacturing technology

B64 Aircraft

E21 Earth or rock drilling

G16 Information and communication technology [ict] specially adapted for specific application fields

B29 Working of plastics

B32 Layered products

A61 Medical or veterinary science

7.9×

6.6×

4.3×

3.2×

3.0×

2.8×

2.6×

2.4×

What is growing fastest

Subclasses by growth in international patent families: 2020 to 2024 against 2015 to 2019. Subclasses with fewer than 500 families in the earlier period are left out.

Inventions from the United States

Subclass	Growth	Now
C25B Electrolytic or electrophoretic processes for the production of compounds or non-metals	2.0×	1,333
G06N Computing arrangements based on specific computational models	1.9×	23,666
C12R Indexing scheme associated with subclasses c12c - c12q, relating to microorganisms	1.7×	1,217
G16B Bioinformatics, i.e. information and communication technology [ict] specially adapted for genetic or protein-related data processing in computational molecular biology	1.5×	3,079
B60L Propulsion of electrically-propelled vehicles	1.5×	5,032
H01M Processes or means, e.g. batteries, for the direct conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy	1.5×	8,415
B25F Combination or multi-purpose tools not otherwise provided for	1.5×	764
G16H Healthcare informatics, i.e. information and communication technology [ict] specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical or healthcare data	1.4×	9,977
G06V Image or video recognition or understanding	1.4×	13,007
A62B Devices, apparatus or methods for life-saving	1.3×	894

Inventions from China

Subclass	Growth	Now
H10B Electronic memory devices	5.0×	3,119
H01M Processes or means, e.g. batteries, for the direct conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy	4.4×	21,495
G06N Computing arrangements based on specific computational models	3.3×	17,769
C12R Indexing scheme associated with subclasses c12c - c12q, relating to microorganisms	3.0×	3,049
C01G Compounds containing metals not covered by subclasses c01d or c01f	2.9×	1,577
C07K Peptides	2.8×	9,149
B60L Propulsion of electrically-propelled vehicles	2.8×	5,117
C01P Indexing scheme relating to structural and physical aspects of solid inorganic compounds	2.7×	2,206
C12N Microorganisms or enzymes	2.5×	13,015
A63F Card, board, or roulette games	2.5×	2,417