Presented as a Chevening Fellows Lecturer at the University of Cambridge.
This presentation presents case studies of the impact on patent activity of the Montreal Protocol on CFCs, and of Feed In Tarrifs in relation to PV and Wind in some countries. Additionally it discusses options for technology transfer in CleanTech - including options drawing from successful existing cross-licensing, patent pools and standard regimes.
13. Chatham House and CambridgeIP have developed a patent
database focused on six Low Carbon energy technologies
A recently completed patent landscaping research effort by CambridgeIP and
Chatham House has sought to identify:
Facts on the ground – to move beyond myths and to practical solutions
Building blocks for technology transfer practices in the low-carbon energy space
1. Biomass to Electricity
Chatham House and CambridgeIP
have developed a unique collection 2. Carbon Capture
of 57,000 patents and related 3. Cleaner Coal
analyses focused on 6 areas of 4. Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST)
energy technology 5. Solar PV
6. Wind
Following the patent landscaping exercise, Ilien Iliev of CambridgeIP
co-authored a report with Bernice Lee and Felix Preston of Chatham
House: Who Owns Our Low Carbon Future?
Full report available for download at Chatham House’s website:
www.chathamhouse.org.uk
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14. Apart from wind and solar PV, patenting activities growth in other
cleaner energy sectors are surprisingly sluggish
Patent applications may be unpublished for 18+ months. Therefore the number of
reported patents for the last 2 years may be under-represented.
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15. Geographical origins of assignees indicate innovation
strengths & capacities
• Aside from China, patent assignees are predominantly from
OECD economies
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16. Patent families indicate the commercial value of inventions
• Most commercial value is concentrated in a relatively small
number of patent families
In each technology field there’s 250-500
patent families with >10 members
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18. The public sector is also a key actor, and its role is likely to
expand
• Public-institution owned IP may be the easiest point at which we
can implement innovative licensing practices
Universities own directly a relatively small proportion
of total patents
The ‘expanded patent footprint’ is likely to be much
higher: licensed tech & spin-offs
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26. Wind Energy: A Detailed Look
Wind turbines are
complex
technology
systems
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27. Wind Energy: Key Components & Applications
Components or
application level
analysis can help
us identify core
areas of
innovation, or
where new
activities are
emerging
There are significant overlaps between
some of these sub-spaces: revealing
patents with multiple or systems-level
claims
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28. Wind Energy comprises many overlapping technological fields
An overlap analysis reveals
• A very close relationship between ‘energy storage’ solutions and ‘generator’ (65.8% of
‘energy storage’ solutions are associated with ‘generator’ solutions)
• The most ‘independent’ components from the Wind Energy technology system are
“energy storage” and “Software/control systems”
• The majority of offshore-related patents are associated with the blades and generator
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29. Top Assignees: Overall and by Technology Component
It is of interest to understand the extent to which the value chain is ‘owned’ or controlled by the top
organisations overall: are there areas where new entrants are making an impact?
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30. Wind Energy Case Study: Enercon
Founded in 1984 by Aloys Webben,
Enercon is a privately owned
German company that has become
a key player in the Wind Energy
sector with revenues of $2.5bln
• A key innovation of Enercon is the direct
drive wind turbine: arguably a more reliable
alternative to gear-driven turbines
• Recently Enercon has extended its activity
downstream into desalination and combined
wind-diesel systems
Enercon has been actively pursuing its IP position:
• Enercon vs. ITC & Zond Energy Systems (1998)
• Possible cross-licensing deal with another Top 5 Wind Energy player
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