‘Artificial Intelligence + α’ Convergence Technology Leading the 4th Industrial Revolution... Sharp Increase in Patent Applications

Graph of Application Trends in the 4th Industrial Revolution Technology Sector (Statistics for 2021 and 2022 exclude unpublished applications). Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Convergent technologies in artificial intelligence and biohealth are analyzed to be leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Patent applications related to these fields also show a steep annual increase.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on the 17th the analysis of patent applications and registrations in the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology sector from 2012 to the first half of 2022.

The analysis focuses on identifying patent trends in eight major technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including artificial intelligence and digital healthcare, as well as in 11 fields where technologies from different sectors have converged.

Through this, KIPO plans to utilize the extracted results to confirm the main technology development directions and trends in the Fourth Industrial Revolution sector.

According to the analysis data, patent applications related to Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies increased 3.7 times from 6,710 cases in 2012 to 24,732 cases in 2021. This growth rate is higher than the overall patent applications during the same period, which increased from 200,000 to 240,000 cases (1.2 times).

Graph of Application Trends in Convergent Technology Fields (Statistics for 2021 and 2022 exclude unpublished applications). Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

In particular, among the major technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the increase in patent applications in artificial intelligence and digital healthcare fields stands out.

In fact, the artificial intelligence field grew at an average annual rate of 41% (384 cases in 2012 → 8,416 cases in 2021), and the digital healthcare field grew at an average annual rate of 16% (1,816 cases in 2012 → 6,683 cases in 2021), indicating that these fields act as the twin engines leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

KIPO also confirmed a deepening trend of convergence, a characteristic of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, in the patent application status over the past 10 years. For example, patent applications in convergent technology fields, which were only 95 cases in 2012, increased 22 times to 2,103 cases in 2021.

Status of Application Growth Rates by Convergent Technology Fields from 2012 to 2021. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

Among these, artificial intelligence technology shows a marked tendency to converge with other technologies. All technologies combined with artificial intelligence among the 11 convergent technologies increased by more than 40% annually on average, and the fact that patent applications converging with artificial intelligence have surged 41 times over the past 10 years explains the increasing trend of AI-based convergent technologies.

Patent applications for technologies combining artificial intelligence and digital healthcare have shown an average annual growth rate of 58.4% over the past 10 years, surpassing the growth rate of patent applications in the previously dominant AI + big data convergence technology field (35%).

Seo Eul-soo, Director of the Convergent Technology Examination Bureau at KIPO, said, “KIPO will focus its capabilities on providing directions for major technology development that will lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution through patent application information analysis tailored to the characteristics of the Fourth Industrial Revolution era, and based on this, lay the foundation for South Korea to take a step forward.”