Agritech Thymes: Exploring the Agritech IP landscape – past trends and future insights

The agrifood patent landscape analysis recently reported by WIPO provides interesting insights into key areas of innovation and the IP strategies being adopted.

The agrifood industry, encompassing both agritech and foodtech, spans the entire food production process from farming to distribution, consumption and management of waste. Therefore, the growth of this industry is crucial to global food security and supply chains.

WIPO’s analysis shows that over the past 20 years, more than 3.5 million patent families have been published in the agrifood sector, of which the majority is in agritech, although both industries are growing. Asia leads the field in pure numbers of filings, with China being the most prolific filer, followed by Japan, South Korea, and India. North America ranks second in terms of number of filings, followed by Europe. Interestingly, however, only 12% of patent applications that are filed are subsequently pursued outside of the country of first filing, as an international application for example. This is a trend which is particularly dominant in Asia, China particularly, where innovators are typically more likely to only seek protection in their home country.

Other key observations which can be made from the patent landscaping data include:

• The field of pest and disease management has the highest number of patent filings by a significant margin, although overall numbers have remained steady over the last decade. Innovation appears to be focussed on non-chemical approaches to the control of crop pests, with an emerging trend toward the use of microorganisms. The patent filings indicate that there has not been any disruptive technology in this area, most likely due to the highly specific nature of the control agents. 
• Soil and fertiliser management is another key area for innovation, where North America has seen the highest numbers of patent filings, with a focus toward microorganism enriched products and autonomous guidance.
• Predictive modelling in precision agriculture, particularly for the fields of soil management, plant culture, crop prediction and management, and animal husbandry, shows significant annual growth based on filings, with key jurisdictions in this technical field being the US, China, Japan and South Korea.

Looking specifically at plant innovation, the numbers of applications for Plant Variety Protection have more than doubled since 2004, as have the total number of PVP’s in force during this period. In recent years, China has far outstripped any other jurisdiction in sheer number of applications and is also the leader in plant variety innovation followed by The Netherlands and the United States.

Innovation in this sector plays a critical role in the move toward global food security, and in promoting sustainability. Significantly, growth in this sector could improve the outcome in fifteen of the UN’s seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. The analysis of patent and PVP filing data is useful in shaping policy and regulation, and in forecasting future developments in the drive toward food security and sustainable practices.

Read the full report below.

This article was prepared by Partners Punita Shah and Ellie Purnell.