Featured Graphene Report

Patenting flatland: Graphene University impact, December 2011

CambridgeIP has analysed the graphene patent landscape, with a focus on the impact of universities and academic institutions.

This analysis:
- is included in our free report ’Patenting flatland: Graphene – University impact’, which is available on request.

- formed the basis of an article by Quentin Tannock (Chairman, CambridgeIP) in Nature Materials Vol 11, January 2012, pgs 2-5. You can access the Nature Materials article ‘Exploiting carbon flatland’ here.

“One of the striking features of the graphene patent landscape is what is not present. The University of Manchester has applied for significantly fewer patents than its peers... The chance of an academic inventor receiving an investment to roll out a commercial graphene application is less than in the past. Finding corporate strategic partners is now even more important.”

Tannock, Q. Exploiting carbon flatland, Nature Materials Vol 11, January 2012, pgs 2-5

CambridgeIP’s key findings in relation to graphene patent activity include

• A surge in graphene patent filings around the world, with a spike in graphene patent activity from around 2007
• Largest graphene patent corporate portfolios are held by Samsung and Sandisk, reflecting industrial interest in semiconductor and memory-related applications of graphene
• A relatively high contribution from Universities and Research Institutes to the graphene patent landscape, consistent with other early-stage and research-intensive technology spaces.
• Top Universities with graphene patents include Sungkunkwan University, Seoul National University and Rice University
• Many Universities have been successful in licensing out their graphene patents to industry

Also in the free graphene patent report ‘Patenting flatland: Graphene – University impact’

• Graph of graphene patent trends over time, with contribution of Universities, Multinationals, SMEs and Other to graphene patent volumes globally
• Top graphene inventors with University affiliations in the graphene patent landscape
• Top graphene Universities by number of graphene patent filings made
• Top graphene organisations by number of graphene journal articles published
• Presentation of graphene patent collaboration networks for Samsung, Sandisk, Sungkunkwan University, Rice University and Manchester University
• Discussion, conclusions and recommendations

Featured Graphene Publication

Exploiting carbon flatland, Tannock, Q; Nature Materials, Volume 11, pgs 2-5 (2012)

Seven years after graphene was first isolated, our analysis of the densely populated patent landscape around the two-dimensional material reveals striking differences between universities’ patenting activities and illustrates the challenges of a fast-moving technology space. In an article in Nature Materials, Quentin Tannock from CambridgeIP highlights University-Industry collaboration activity and key findings from CambridgeIP research into the graphene patent landscape.

Key findings include:

• One of the striking features of the graphene patent landscape is what is not present. Professor Andre Geim (one of two Physics Nobel Prize winners of 2010) is not currently listed as an inventor on any published graphene patent application. Konstantin Novoselov, who won the Nobel Prize with Geim, is currently listed as an inventor on only one patent application (date of search November 2011).
• Manchester University, where Geim and Novoselov work, has significantly less patents than its graphene focused research peers at other Universities.
• The chances of an academic inventor receiving an investment to roll out a commercial graphene application are less than in the past. Finding corporate strategic partners is now even more important to Universities than it was in the past, and at an even earlier stage in the science commercialization process.

Read the full article in Nature Materials here, or contact us here with any questions you might have.

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Featured Graphene Boliven Landscape: Recent trends in nanotechnology patenting: 2005 to May 2011

View our latest Nanotechnology Boliven Landscape™ report that presents an analysis of patenting trends in nanotechnology in the 5 years to end-May 2011. The report is based on a semi-automated and expert-validated analysis of nanotechnology patents, as identified by the EPO & conducted on Boliven systems, a literature review of past patent studies and interviews with nanotechnology and industry experts. The report, analytics and an interactive list of the relevant patents can be found on Boliven.

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