Patents as Technology Innovation Indicators

Although patents are one of the indicators least publicized in the media, they are key elements in measuring the advancement of technologies in countries and, perhaps more importantly, the impact they have on development. First, they secure monetary benefits through marketing, sale or licensing of technology, and they also reflect a dynamic production of knowledge and technologies that positively impact societies.

The availability and ease of access to patent-related information, regular updating of databases by Intellectual Property Offices and their relationship to inventiveness allow for very close monitoring of technological innovation. Patent statistical analysis shows not only national growth in terms of patent applications and granting, but also technology trends, prioritized or potential markets and pioneering agencies in the area.

There are various reports worldwide with such data, presented annually in order to assess the competitiveness and innovation of countries.  One is the Global Competitiveness Report, which records the total number of patent families filed in at least two of the five major offices worldwide per million inhabitants. In the 2018 Report, no country in the region stood out in patent applications, with Chile being the highest ranked Latin American country, at 48th place, followed by Brazil (54) and Uruguay (57).

Another major reference is the Global Innovation Index, which reports the “patent families filed by residents in at least two offices / GDP at PPP” indices, as well as "patent applications filed by residents in a national or regional office / GDP at PPP” and “patent applications filed by residents via PCT/ GDP at PPP.” They all measure the ratio of patent activity to GDP and the internationalization of applications, i.e. patent applications filed in more than one office and through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Poor performance in these indices suggests the need to improve patenting activities and innovation policies to increase countries’ competitiveness.

Another such monitor is the Patent Cooperation Treaty Yearly Review, which analyses PCT data and metrics by listing the main applicants, whether countries, companies, institutes or universities.  

One of the main findings of these reports and indicators is that Latin American and Caribbean countries lag behind in patent metrics. Chile and Brazil lead the rankings regionally, but they are still well below compared to the rest of the world. Much remains to be done, including training in the area, reinforcing public policies, creating incentives for generation of technologies and innovation ecosystems where different stakeholders can support each other.

One of the main efforts to drive technological innovation in the region has been the Regional Technological Patent Initiative promoted by CAF—development bank of Latin America—, which since 2013 has been committed to encouraging high-tech development in strategic sectors through patent training, in order to make a medium-term impact on high-tech exports and royalty-based revenues from the commercialization of technologies in large international markets.

To date, 24 Patent Development Workshops have been held, where 1,150 technological concepts with patenting potential have been developed, together with a MOOC on the CAF Method for Accelerated Patent Development, which is currently publicly available. Such programs are necessary in the region, with the integration of academic, business and government sectors in order to position Latin American countries as generators of knowledge and to open up new markets.