Top patent owners: patent activity
A look at the top applicants reveals that Chinese universities and Japanese companies dominate the research landscape in marine technologies. Harbin Engineering University tops the list, with 687 patent families published between 2000 and 2023 (Figure B15). Wuhan University of Technology, Dalian Maritime University, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are also in the top 10.
Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has published 535 patent families since 2000 and ranks second overall. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is active in the development of low-emission fuels and autonomous ships. Yamaha Motor and Furuno Electric are other Japanese companies among the top 10 global research players. French naval engineering company Gaztransport et Technigaz and German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp are also in the top 10.
Top patent owners: patent growth
Patenting activity in sea transport technologies has grown dynamically over the last decades (Figures B16–B19). Most top applicants have increased their patent portfolios since 2000 (Figure B18). However, since 2020, annual patent family publications by some of the top applicants have been on a downward trend (Figure B19).
Top patent owners: research priorities
The research priorities of the top patent owners show some differences. Some companies, such as Hanwha Ocean, Gaztransport et Technigaz, Siemens and Mitsui E&S, published almost all their patent families in the field of Sustainable Propulsion/Efficient Ship Design (Figure B20). In absolute terms, Gaztransport et Technigaz, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Harbin Engineering University are the top patent holders in this technology trend (Figure B21).
Others, such as Furuno Electric, have a clear research focus on communication and safety technologies. However, Harbin Engineering University has the highest patenting activity in absolute terms.
Harbin Engineering University is also the top ranked patent holder in terms of published patent families in Automation and Circularity technologies ahead of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
None of the 25 marine research companies and institutions shown have a significant share of HMI patent family publications, only Wuhan University of Technology and ThyssenKrupp have published more than one patent family since 2000.
