LITHIUM-ION BATTERY GLOBAL PATENT RACE (1990-2019)

Lithium-ion battery (LIB) is a key subject nowadays once CO2 emissions level, energy matrix, zero emission target and electric mobility are priority among governments and companies. The aim of this paper is to analyze LIB patent race, from 1990 to 2019, by country, sectors and companies, using data from Derwent Innovation Platform, a Clarivate Analytics Group product. Our main results are: i) China and Japan concentrate the main companies, ii) Information and Communication Technology is the main sector in Electric Devices (ED) battery and Automobilistic in Electric Vehices (EV) battery, iii) some companies in EB and EV, suggesting direct spillovers from ED to EV battery. Other firms are only in ED, others only in EV, iv) Latin American, Africa and Central Asia out of this patent race.Lithium-ion battery (LIB) is a key subject nowadays once CO2 emissions level, energy matrix, zero emission target and electric mobility are priority among governments and companies. The aim of this paper is to analyze LIB patent race, from 1990 to 2019, by country, sectors, and companies, using data from Derwent Innovation Platform, a Clarivate Analytics Group product. Our main results are: i) China and Japan concentrate the main companies, ii) Information and Communication Technology is the main sector in Electric Devices (ED) battery and Automobilistic in Electric Vehices (EV) battery, iii) some companies are in ED and EV, suggesting direct spillovers from ED to EV battery. Other firms are only in ED, others only in EV, iv) Latin American, Africa and Central Asia are out of this patent race. The main conclusion are i) this patent race winners are in Asia nowadays, ii) leading firms in electric devices are not that in vehicle batteries