Top 10 of Invention Patent Filing Industries in Taiwan in 2011-2013

According to Taiwan IPO’s statistics and analysis on domestic and foreign invention applications filed during the period beginning from year 2011 through 2013, the industries of “electric digital data processing”, “semi-conductor”, and “e-consumption” took up three top-ten spots in domestic invention patent applications, which shows Taiwan’s long-term patent mapping centralized in electronics industry.   Among the top ten industries of invention applications, “medical and health care” climbed 2 places, while “communication” dropped 2 spots, which reveals a shift of strategy in patent mapping in the two industries.  “Advanced materials” experiences a steady climb in the ranking (Table 1). 

Among the top ten industries of foreign invention applications, “advanced materials” replaced “semi-conductor” to lead in the first place of the ranking in 2013 for the first time.  In the same period, the three major industries that contribute most foreign invention applications were “advanced materials”, “semi-conductor”, and “precision machinery and automation”, marking a slightly different result from that of Taiwan where invention applications were mostly from electronics industry.  In addition, in 2013, “e-consumption” slipped two places and formed the most drastic change in the ranking among the top-ten industries (Table 2). 

Moreover, a top-ten comparison between the domestic and foreign invention applications in 2013 shows that most of Taiwan’s invention applications came from electronics industries, such as, “electric digital data processing”, “semi-conductor”, and “e-consumption”, while foreign invention applications dispersed in different industries of “advanced materials”, “semi-conductor”, and “precision machinery and automation”.  There are other noticeable differences.  “Electric digital data processing” and “e-consumption” dominated in the leading position among the top-three industries of the domestic invention applications but comparatively dropped from the leading positions in the top-ten ranking of foreign invention applications.  Also, “advanced materials” served as a focus of the patent mapping of foreign invention applications, while this field was ranked only 6th in the ranking of domestic invention applications. (September 2014)