What can patent data reveal about global progress in green innovation, and what may be achieved in years to come?

It is clear that a green mandate is now a permanent part of the global agenda - a must-do that requires immediate action. There has been a lot of rhetoric about the need for action. Recent progress has been made in the form of commitments and agreements reached at, for example, COP26. The difficulty in agreeing these objectives should not be understated, but in some ways, is only an early step in a much longer process. Achieving these targets, while also maintaining a recognisable way of life, will require development of new technologies.

“This report contributes to the green conversation by getting behind the rhetoric to shed light on the state of progress in the development of these new technologies.” --Chris Mason, Senior Associate

How close are we to finding the technological solutions that will be so important for achieving sustainability? Who is developing these innovations, and where are they coming from? One of the great benefits of the patent system is that it requires public disclosure of new innovations. These disclosures provide a valuable resource for understanding the current state of the art, as well as for identifying the ‘hot’ fields, the ‘problems of the day’ and the new advantages that the innovations bring to the world. We have leveraged our experience of working with technology and the patent system to navigate this reservoir, to produce data driven analysis, and to pull back the curtain on the progress of green innovation.

Green innovation is a wide field, applicable to some extent in every industry. Rarely in recent years does an industry conference presentation not touch on efforts toward improving the environmental impact of the company’s activities. As a starting point, this inaugural edition of Inside Green Innovation: Progress Report 2021 focuses on the most pressing and most widely-recognised issues facing us today: food production, plastics, and energy in the renewable age:

Conventional agriculture & agriculture of the future: the human population has expanded dramatically over the last one hundred years, and promises to continue to do so for the next one hundred. How can we feed our growing population in a sustainable way? Will radically new agriculture and food production technologies come along? Can conventional agriculture be saved? Bioplastics & plastics recycling: the concerns associated with plastic use are well publicised. What will the next generation of environmentally friendly plastics look like? And what can we do to reduce the impact of the current plastics of today? Short-term energy storage & long-term energy storage: energy harnessed from renewable sources such as solar and wind power has the potential to address our energy needs in a sustainable manner. While we are making good progress in capturing this energy, the Achilles heel of such energy sources is consistency. Energy storage in the form of short-term batteries, such as those used in electronic vehicles, are a major current talking point, and green innovation in this area is of great interest. There is another form of energy storage that is also important however – long term energy storage. Technologies that allow us to save energy harnessed from renewable sources for months, rather than weeks. What form will these short and long-term energy storage technologies take?