Future Technologies: Which Companies Are Building Momentum for the Future of Innovation

The innovation landscape is constantly changing as new technologies and trends emerge and existing ones evolve. This constant change requires organizations to be adaptable, agile, and proactive to stay ahead of the curve and capitalize on new opportunities. There are many questions of particular interest concerning future technologies: Who is leading the innovation race? What are the most forward-looking patent developments across industries? And how can companies compare the dynamics of their innovative strength with those of their competitors?

Change is everywhere: Why innovation is becoming increasingly complex  

Innovation is becoming increasingly complex as technology and society continue to evolve. Advancements in fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and nanotechnology are creating new opportunities for global innovation and new challenges. For example, the increasing interconnectivity of systems and devices brings unknown security risks and the need for more sophisticated data management.  

With the growth of big data, there is a need for more advanced analytics to extract insights and make sense of the vast amounts of information being generated.  

Additionally, as technology becomes more integrated into every aspect of our lives, ethical considerations and potential impacts on society must be taken into account. Future technologies innovation is increasingly becoming a multidisciplinary process, requiring collaboration across different fields and sectors. 

Global innovation: The Innovation Momentum approach 

To identify the top performers in patent development, similar publications have traditionally measured the size of patent portfolios in combination with other selection criteria, e.g., the number of patent applications. Such approaches are flawed because they are too limited to mature technology fields dominated by multinational companies, often ignoring small start-ups with early breakthrough innovations. To get a complete picture, however, it is vital to assess a patent portfolio based on its size and the individual quality of all patent families.  

This approach was initially introduced in the LexisNexis® “Innovation Momentum 2022: The Global Top 100”. In this comprehensive IP report, we leveraged the advanced analytics capabilities of LexisNexis® PatentSight® to uncover a new way of measuring the growth in innovation in the last two years. This approach also helps us identify technology companies with exceptional technological significance for the future and those that are surpassing their competitors.  

The innovation report rewards companies with well-maintained portfolios and recognizes technology leaders with exceptional relevance in their specific areas, highlighting truly innovative companies across all industries. 

The Innovation Momentum approach is unique because it: 

• identifies individuals or entities who possess relatively small but high-quality portfolios  
• rewards patent owners who keep their patent portfolio in good condition 
• accounts for the diverse developments across all technology sectors 
• takes into consideration the intended audience or market for the innovation. 

How did things change from our first-ever Innovation Momentum Report published last year? 

The list is dominated by five industries – Pharmaceuticals, Information Technologies, Chemicals & Materials, Electronics as well as Semiconductors – which underlines the drivers of change that global challenges lead to innovation. 

• Five industries dominate the list— The Top 100 companies identified with the most Innovation Momentum belong to five major global industries – Pharmaceuticals (18), Information Technologies (16), Chemicals and Materials (12), Electronics (12), and Semiconductors (12).  
• The U.S. is represented most on the list, with almost half the patent owners in the Top 100 headquartered here. The U.S. is also home to half of the Information Technologies companies on the list.  
• In Asia, Electronics remains the primary industry contributing to innovation. China and South Korea continue to demonstrate their traditional strength in Electronics and the Chemicals & Materials industry, with 12 out of 17 companies from Asia with headquarters in these countries. 
• With pressing issues like an aging global population and the long tail of the COVID-19 pandemic creating demand for new pharmaceutical therapies and products, it’s no surprise that most of the recent innovations came from this industry. Of the 18 companies identified, 13 are based in the US and 5 in Europe. 
• As more consumers give up smoking and governments bring stricter laws toward limiting tobacco use, cigarette companies know they must innovate to survive. This is also reflected in the list where five major tobacco manufacturers joined the ranks of the top 100 innovators. 
• Recent years have also witnessed an increase in average life expectancy fostered by healthier lifestyles and better medical facilities. Medical technology companies such as Medtronic, Masimo Corporation, and ResMed are innovating to ensure people’s lives remain comfortable and healthy. A vast majority of medical technology companies are based in the US. 
• Academia remains a rich source of innovation, with leading universities and institutions found in countries across the globe, from the U.S. to China, France, Germany, and Korea. 

The report itself studies three of these industries, viz. Consumer Goods, Chemicals & materials, and Medical Technologies, in-depth, including various analyses based on our proprietary innovation analytics metrics. Please follow the link below to download the full Innovation Momentum report. 

Want to see the complete 2023 list of the global Top 100 and find out which companies are leading the innovation race?  
Get the report now.

How the LexisNexis® Patent Asset Index enables comparing of portfolios 

The underlying method of the  “Innovation Momentum 2023: The Global Top 100” is based on the Patent Asset Index, an industry-trusted measure that uses a scientifically validated method to evaluate the innovative strength of a patent portfolio. This approach of measuring the innovation momentum that companies were able to generate, offers an objective way of identifying companies that have surpassed their competitors in developing a qualitatively superior patent portfolio in the previous two years. 

The Patent Asset Index of a patent portfolio is determined by the combined strength of all the patent families it holds. The strength of each patent family is measured by its Competitive Impact, which consists of two dimensions: Technology Relevance and Market Coverage. 

• Competitive Impact represents the individual strength of a patent family and is calculated by multiplying the Technology Relevance and the Market Coverage of each patent family. To give an example, a value of four indicates that the patent family is four times more important than the typical patent family in the same field. 
• Technology Relevance is a metric that considers various factors, such as the total number of patent citations received, the elapsed time since the patent was published, and the average number of citations received by all patents published in the same year, among others. 
• Market Coverage incorporates the size of the global market that a patent family protects. It is measured by benchmarking the size of the markets in which a patent family is protected to the world’s largest economy – the United States of America. 

Learn more about the Patent Asset Index here. 

Let’s collaborate to accelerate innovation 

We’re eager to connect with you and hear about your IP challenges. Contact our experts to help you stay ahead of the innovation curve and future technologies. 

Which companies are pioneering the future of science and technology?

Download Innovation Momentum 2023: The Global Top 100 to find out! Using our proprietary patent quality metrics to look at the global patent landscape we list out the Top 100 innovators worldwide. Read the full report to discover which companies are at the forefront of innovation, driving future technologies.

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