Top Patenting Countries in Nanotechnology

According to studies carried out by statnano.com, 27,350 patents had been published by the end of December 2012 in USPTO, among which 57% were published by the United States, giving the first rank to this country while Japan, Republic of Korea, and Taiwan hold the next ranks.

According to studies carried out by Statnano, 27,350 patents had been published by the end of December 2012 in USPTO, among which 57% were published by the United States, giving the first rank to this country while Japan, Republic of Korea, and Taiwan hold the next ranks.

Republic of Korea and Taiwan showed a one-step growth in the ranking while Germany had a fall of one step, possessing the fifth rank. According to the following table, Eastern Asian countries have paid special attention to the American nanotechnology markets.

 
Top 30 countries according to their nanotechnology published patents in 2012
 

Rank

Country

USPTO

EPO

1

USA

15695

849

2

Japan

3513

942

3

South Korea

1320

237

4

Taiwan

1055

24

5

Germany

969

353

6

France

625

138

7

China

549

87

8

UK

475

65

9

Netherlands

407

89

10

Canada

390

39

11

Switzerland

289

118

12

Belgium

234

62

13

Australia

161

19

14

Singapore

159

11

15

Sweden

156

15

16

Italy

138

43

17

Denmark

119

12

18

India

117

5

19

Spain

107

69

20

Finland

96

12

21

Ireland

63

14

22

Austria

60

34

23

Saudi Arabia

48

2

24

Norway

46

6

25

Luxembourg

39

3

26

Russia

34

13

27

Brazil

25

5

27

New Zealand

25

0

29

Iran

22

3

30

South Africa

16

1


 
In 2012, more than 13,350 nanotechnology patents were granted, which equaled 5.7% of the total patents in the same year. In this ranking, the United States, Japan, Republic of Korea, and Taiwan hold the first to fourth rank. The following table lists the number of granted nanotechnology patents for the top 30 countries in the world, and the share of their nanotechnology patents from their total patents in USPTO.
 
Number and share of nanotechnology patents from the total number of patents in 2012
 

Rank

Country

Nano-patents

Total patents

Share of nano (%)

1

USA

8068

118855

6.79

2

Japan

1943

45851

4.24

3

South Korea

577

12107

4.77

4

Taiwan

552

10952

5.04

5

Germany

409

11987

3.41

6

France

299

4819

6.2

7

Netherlands

233

2741

8.5

8

China

227

4469

5.08

9

Canada

174

4204

4.14

10

UK

133

3182

4.18

11

Switzerland

125

2836

4.41

12

Singapore

74

922

8.03

13

Australia

64

1261

5.08

14

Belgium

62

655

9.47

15

Sweden

59

2257

2.61

16

Denmark

34

771

4.41

17

Italy

34

1618

2.1

18

Ireland

34

539

6.31

19

Finland

26

1016

2.56

20

Spain

25

470

5.32

21

Saudi Arabia

17

169

10.06

22

India

17

407

4.18

23

Austria

16

627

2.55

24

Luxembourg

10

216

4.63

25

Norway

10

288

3.47

26

Iran

10

21

47.62

27

New Zealand

7

197

3.55

28

Mexico

5

108

4.63

29

Russia

5

122

4.1