Abstract
By 2023, it is estimated that more than 29 billion devices will be connected to Internet Protocol networks across the globe, most of which will be creating data in real time. Once combined with big data, 5G or artificial intelligence, they enable the automation of entire business processes, paving the way to a data-driven economy. The study analyses patent applications that constitute the building blocks of this Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The data presented offer insights into which countries, companies and regional clusters are leading the way in 4IR technologies. By highlighting the fields that are gathering momentum and the cross-fertilisation taking place between these fields, it provides a guide for policy and business decision makers to direct resources towards value creation in the digital era.
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Notes
- 1.
Cisco Annual Internet Report (2018–2023). White paper, 2020.
- 2.
Fourth Industrial Revolution is the term used by Klaus Schwab, founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, in his recent book on this subject (Schwab, 2017).
- 3.
“Shaping the digital transformation in Europe”. Study prepared for the European Commission, DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology. September 2020.
- 4.
European Patent Office (2020) Patents and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The global technology trends enabling the data economy.
- 5.
Each IPF covers a single invention and includes patent applications filed at several patent offices. It is a reliable proxy for inventive activity because it provides a degree of control for patent quality by only representing inventions for which the inventor considers the value sufficient to seek protection internationally. The patent trend data presented in this report refer to numbers of IPFs.
- 6.
Europe is defined as comprising all 38 member states of the European Patent Organisation.
Reference
European Patent Office. (2020). Patents and the fourth industrial revolution: The global technology trends enabling the data-driven economy. ISBN 978-3-89605-261-2.
Schwab, K. (2017). The fourth industrial revolution (1st ed.). Crowne Business. Originally published by World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland 2016.
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Ménière, Y. (2022). Patents and the Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Global Technology Trends Enabling the Data Economy. In: Bounfour, A. (eds) Platforms and Artificial Intelligence . Progress in IS. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90192-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90192-9_5
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