Pace of patent filings shows a leap in GCC innovation

Pixabay/fernandozhiminaicela

• Saudi patent applications double
• Jump signals boost in innovations
• But GCC still a long way behind

Patent applications filed by residents of Saudi Arabia have more than doubled in the past eight years, from 3,213 in 2016 – when Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman launched his Vision 2030 programme – to 6,510 in 2023.

Saudi filers submitted 86.3 patent applications per million inhabitants last year, up from 39.4 in 2016.

However, the greatest progress in the GCC region was seen in Oman. Patent applications there went from just 12 by residents in 2016, or 0.9 per million people, to 437, or 68.3 per million people last year, data from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) shows.

Patent applications by residents of the UAE went from 622 in 2016 to 1,005 in 2023, according to WIPO.

Submissions in the UAE rose from 1,699 to 3,403 in eight years, going from nine to 28.7 per million residents. Applications filed in Saudi Arabia went from 3,266 in 2016 to 7,084.

Gulf countries are still a long way behind leading industrial nations. Patent applications in the US and UK were 824 and 255 per million inhabitants in 2023, respectively.

But while total figures remain low compared to other wealthy regions in the world, the jump signals a boost in innovation in the local ecosystem, according to Ken Miyajima, a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund and lead for Qatar.

“Even though the overall level is still low, there is a very steep increase in patent applications in some GCC countries,” Miyajima said at an event hosted by the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington DC in December. “If this trend continues then technology can be built domestically.”

Mohammed Abdul Fasi, a senior technology transfer officer who oversees intellectual property at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh, says patent data is vital in countries like Saudi Arabia to monitor the pace of diversification away from oil and the development of the knowledge-based economy.

“For example, increases in patents related to AI, renewable energy and biotechnology suggest alignment with global trends, and international patent filings indicate a growing focus on global competitiveness,” he wrote in a research paper published this month. “Furthermore, patent data reveal insights into collaboration within the kingdom’s innovation ecosystem.”

Patents that are co-filed by universities, research organisations and the private sector point to the kind of knowledge transfer flows that are central to Vision 2030, Abdul Fasi says.

His study relies on the IP platform Patsnap to track patents granted, unlike the WIPO figures on applications.

Abdul Fasi found that Saudi Aramco secured the most patents since 2016, followed by King Faisal University, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and King Abdulaziz University.

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The United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property, the European Patent Office, the China National Intellectual Property Administration and the German Patent and Trade Mark Office were the primary places where Saudi citizens obtained intellectual property protection.

“However, the limited number of registrations at the SAIP highlights a need for improvement,” Abdul Fasi wrote.

The UAE “has made great strides in developing its intellectual property sector in accordance with global best practices, recognising it as a fundamental and key pillar for promoting economic growth,” its minister of the economy, Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, said in February, announcing an overhaul of the nation’s IP framework.

In Oman, the sultanate received 369 patent submissions in 2016 and 874 eight years later.

Nidaa bint Yaqub al Tamimi, who leads the patents and industrial designs department at Oman’s national IP office, said at an event in Muscat unveiling a new intellectual property strategy last month that “supporting innovators is essential for enhancing Oman’s economic competitiveness”.

This article was first published on December 27, 2024