Tech Talk | AI green tech patent filings trends

New analysis from IP company Marks & Clerk has revealed that despite a slowdown in AI patent filings, those for green technologies were up over a third in 2023.

Currently, green AI technologies account for only around 4% of all AI patent filings, but their rapid growth in the last year conveys their importance in the context of the global energy transition.

The London-headquartered company believes that given the significant investments being made in green technologies worldwide, this growth is likely to continue, regardless of trends in AI filings for other areas.

It is “encouraging”, says Mike Williams, lead partner in AI at Marks & Clerk.

“This demonstrates that companies are increasingly looking to apply the AI advances made in the last two decades to developing solutions to global environmental challenges. This is clearly still a nascent and developing area, but given the scale of the problem, the societal and financial rewards these innovations could offer are unmatched.”

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This the fourth annual review from Marks & Clerk is focussed on patent applications to the European Patent Office (EPO) and also reveals a significant increase in 2023 from half to two-thirds in the allowance rates for AI applications.

However, it is not clear if this is due to the EPO becoming more lenient or to an increase in the rate at which it is issuing communications in dealing with its backlog.

Either way, Marks & Clerk believe it to be an anomaly and that the grant rate will drop slightly to around 60%.

Turning to a country analysis, while the majority of AI applications filed at the EPO are from US applicants, for green technologies European applicants file around 50% more than US applicants.

Nevertheless, Europe is viewed as an important market for foreign companies investing in green technologies, with over half of all EPO applications for ‘green AI’ between 2000 and 2023 coming from applicants outside of Europe.

Perhaps the most interesting finding is the filing per type of green technology, with the largest number, almost two-thirds, categorised as ‘energy conservation’ and including the application of AI to the storage of electrical and thermal energy, e.g. battery technology, generation and the use of energy.

Other sub-categories, approximately equally proportioned, are ‘alternative energy production’, i.e. geothermal, wind, hydro, etc., ‘sustainable transportation’, i.e. hybrid vehicles, electric propulsion, etc., ‘waste management’, i.e. waste disposal, treatment, etc. and ‘adaptive technologies’, i.e. application of AI for mitigation or adaption to climate change.

In this context, patent pooling also is emerging, which can accelerate the deployment of new technologies at scale, much like the telecoms industry.

AI oversight and regulation

In a discussion on AI and regulation, Marks & Clerk point to differences between regulatory philosophies between the EU and US seeming increasingly apt to create friction and confusion for those wishing to do business in both territories.

Understanding the differences between the two approaches is therefore not only of legal interest but essential for any business operating in the field of AI.

There has been a significant amount of coverage of and commentary on the European Union’s AI Act, with regulation of AI technologies based on a risk-tiered system. High-risk AI applications would be subject to stringent oversight, including mandatory risk assessments, transparency requirements and conformity assessments, while low-risk applications face lower regulation.

On the other hand, as in the UK and elsewhere, the overall national response in the US has yet to crystallise but legislative history would imply that where the EU’s AI Act exemplifies a precautionary approach, prioritising consumer protection and ethical AI use, the US may lean towards a more innovation-friendly, laissez-faire stance.

Looking ahead

Looking ahead, Marks & Clerk note that their analysis will not capture all of the AI innovations that could be used to aid the green transition.

Referring to the growth rate observed they state that it has taken time to reach a point where AI techniques can be applied to some of the hardest problems that society is facing and the analysis would suggest that “we are there”.

“We therefore expect that innovation is this area will only increase from here and that we will all benefit as a result.”

Jonathan Spencer Jones

Specialist writer
Smart Energy International

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