The CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX (CEPGI), published quarterly by the Cleantech Group at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. provides an indication of the trend of innovative activity in the Clean Energy sector from 2002 to the present. Results from the second quarter of 2013 reveal the CEPGI to have a value of 765 granted U.S. patents which is up 27 relative to the first quarter total of 738, but is down 21 relative to the quarter from one year prior. Toyota was granted the highest number of clean energy patents for the second quarter. Solar patents for the first time topped Fuel Cell patents to take the quarterly lead among technology sectors — by 37 patents.
The granting of patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is often cited as a measure of the inventive
activity and evidence of the effectiveness of research & development investments. Patents are considered to be such an
indicator, because to be awarded a patent, it requires not only the efforts of inventors to develop new and non-obvious
innovations but also successful handling by patent counsel to shepherd a patent application through the PTO. Thus, the
granting of a patent is an indicator that efforts at innovation have been successful and that an innovation had enough
perceived value to justify the time and expense in procuring the patent.
The CEPGI (shown below quarterly) tracks the granting of U.S. patents for the following sub-components: Solar, Wind,
Hybrid/Electric Vehicles, Fuel Cells, Hydroelectric, Tidal/Wave, Geothermal, Biomass/Biofuels and Other Clean Renewable Energy.
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Solar patents topped Fuel Cell patents for the first time in the second quarter of 2013, jumping 29 to 246 relative to the
first quarter. Fuel Cells edged Solar by one patent during the first quarter thus the long quarterly reign of Fuel Cell
patents - back to 2002 - comes to an end. Solar patents were up 35 compared to a year prior. Fuel Cells (209) topped Wind
patents (141) by 68 patents, which dropped 14 relative to the first quarter and 46 versus a year before. Solar patents’
quarterly win makes clear that innovation in this sector continues at a rapid pace despite the failures and consolidations of
solar firms across the board that dominate cleantech media reports.
Hybrid-Electric Vehicle patents led the rest of the field with 94, up 13 from the first quarter and up 29 compared to a year
prior. Tidal patents were again up three to 22 while Biofuel/Biomass patents dropped one relative to the first quarter to 47.
Hydroelectric patents remained at seven for the third consecutive quarter. Geothermal patents were down one compared to the
first quarter and up five versus a year ago. Other Alternative Energy patents jumped two to nine.
2012 annual winner Toyota retook the quarterly crown from first quarter winner GM, with 48 clean energy patents in the second
quarter thanks to its Fuel Cell (34) and Hybrid/Electric Vehicle patents (13) - with the HEV total leading the quarterly field.
GM followed by three but had more Fuel Cell patents (35) than any other in the second quarter. Twenty-two Wind patents, one
more than the first quarter, gave GE third place supplemented by three Solar patents and one Other patent. Samsung again had
22 granted Clean Energy patents edging Honda by two and Ford by nine. Samsung's total was fueled by Fuel Cells (16), Solar
(5), and Hybrid/Electric Vehicles (1). Honda had 13 Fuel Cell patents, five Hybrid/Electric Vehicle patents, and one each in
Solar and Ocean patents. Ford had two less HEV patents than Toyota and had one Fuel Cell and one Biomass/Biofuels patent.
Mitsubishi (12) trailed Ford by one granted clean energy patent and had patents in Hybrid/electric vehicles (3), Wind (8),
Solar (1) and Ocean (1). Siemens tied Hyundai with 10 granted clean energy patents. Siemens had Fuel Cell (1) and HEV (9)
patents while Hyundai scored in Fuel Cells (5), Hybrid/electric vehicles (4) and Solar. Sunpower rounded out the top ten with
8 Solar patents. It is interesting to note that despite there being more Solar patents granted in the second quarter than the
other technologies, among the top ten clean energy patent grantees, Fuel Cells outperformed Solar by over five times, at 105 to
19, suggesting that it is not the large patent grantees, and by extension not the large corporations, driving the explosion in
Solar patents - but instead smaller patent grantees are driving this trend.
Japan led non-U.S. holders of U.S. Clean Energy patents and individual U.S. states, as depicted below in the geographic charts,
and had 147 patents in clean energy, down four from the previous quarter and 11 from the same period a year prior. Japan, the
quarterly geographical Clean Energy patent crown winner, led runner up California (86) by 61, up four from the previous
quarter and down nine from the second quarter of 2012. Michigan (72) took third place, topping fourth place Korea (51).
Michigan had four more patents than the first quarter and added 20 relative to the year before while Korea was up eight and
three, respectively.
Germany (39) topped New York and Taiwan, which tied with 35 granted clean energy patents. Germany's total plummeted 33 from
the first quarter of this year and 23 versus a year before. New York fell four and 19, respectively, while Taiwan jumped 11
and 20. Texas (27) led Massachusetts by five granted clean energy patents and Colorado by 11. Denmark (12), France (10) ,
Canada (7), Switzerland (7) and China (6) also had granted U.S. clean energy patents in the second quarter of 2013.
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Trend lines by quarter through the second quarter of 2013 for the CEPGI and for each of the CEPGI components are depicted
below:
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CEPGI yearly totals through 2012 are depicted below:
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The
CEPGI is updated quarterly and is occasionally supplemented with related
articles posted on www.cleanenergypatentgrowthindex.com
or http://www.cepgi.com/
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have updated this page or the CEPGI.
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