21/3/15: Irish patents filings Q4 2014

Latest data on Irish patents, courtesy of NewMorningIP.com: chart below shows a decline in total patents filings in Q4 2014 compared to Q3 2014 with Q4 2014 patents counts at 699 down from Q3 2014 count of 786. Of these, Irish invention patents were down to 321 in Q4 2014 from 331 in Q3 2014, but up on 236 a year ago. In Q4 2014, Irish inventors accounted for 45.9% of total Irish patents filed, with Irish enterprises and individuals filing only 247 patents - the lowest for any quarter since Q1 2014, but ahead of the disastrously poor performance in Q4 2013 (188 Irish enterprises & individuals patents). Irish academia produced 74 patents in Q4 2014, the highest reading since Q3 2013, but still accounting for only 10.6% of total patents filed in Ireland.

Chart to illustrate:

10/2/2014: Data shows Irish R&D policy is not exactly producing...

Today, Grant Thornton published their review of the Irish R&D Tax Credits policy, available here: http://www.grantthornton.ie/db/Attachments/Review-of-RandD-tax-credit-regime.pdf?utm_content=buffer1e77c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Top level conclusions:

• "60% of the companies that responded to the survey were indigenous Irish companies with 40% multinationals"
• "35% of companies conducting R&D activities engaged in joint research projects with other parties in 2011"
• "with 19.5% being activities with higher education or institutes within Ireland and 8% outside Ireland"
• "70% of claims are by companies with less than 50 employees"
• "large companies with employees of more than 250 employees account for 10% of claims made. However they account for 45% of claims on a monetary basis"

"The credit is a largely positive scheme with real value being added to the economy from it."

My view: too much of subsidy to MNCs, too little evidence the scheme is not being used by SMEs to fund activity that would have been funded anyway and too little evidence the scheme is being used to fund genuine R&D rather than business development.

But aside from this, there is little evidence that funding is yielding any serious uptick in intellectual property generation. Here's the latest data from the NewMorningIP on patents filings in Ireland.

Based on quarterly aggregates, in Q4 2013, total number of Irish academic patents hit the lowest reading of 48 and the goal number of filed patents match this performance at 593. Irish inventions overall sunk to the lowest level of 236 (previous low was 252 for Q3 2012, imputed on incomplete data). Patents applications by non-academic filers stood at 188 - the lowest level in data series.

Overall, in 2013, there were 2561 patents applications, of which Irish total filings amounted to 1072 (41.9%) and of which Irish non-academic patents applications were just 860 (33.6%). This is hardly stellar and cannot be deemed sustainable for the economy that is allegedly based on innovation. It also makes clear that current system of R&D incentives and supports, including tax credit, is not working.

11/12/2013: Irish Patenting Activity: November 2013

Reading Pictet's latest monthly, covering the topic of Swiss competitiveness... it is awesome - with interviews from academics, watchmakers, artists, museums directors, company that makes engines for Mars rovers, biotech giant, and so on. And it reminded me to update the data set on Irish patenting activity from NewMorningIP for November.

Here are the results:

Monthly data shows that November 2013 patenting activity in Ireland fell to its third lowest level since the records maintained by NewMorningIP started in August 2012. At 183 patents filed, November 2013 is down on 197 a year ago. So far, Q4 2013 results are running at the lowest level for all quarterly results.

It is worth noting that the data can be throwing seasonal variation. We can't tell due to short nature of series.

Not spectacular numbers at any rate. Big overseas inventions fall-off to 100 in November, the third lowest month on record. Irish inventions are down also.

On annual basis, 2013 is shaping up to post around 2,600 patents, up on 2012. All increases are due to increased overseas patents activity, with Irish patents falling. We shall see how December plays out, however.

1/10/2013: Irish Patenting Activity Q3 2013

Data on patents and patent applications for Ireland was published today by New Morning IP. Here's their summary and couple of my comments:

"In summary for September 2013:

• 192 published applications or patents issued to Irish applicants through USPTO, EPO and PCT.
• Top three assignees: Zamtec, Accenture Global Services and Digital Optics
• Academic institutions accounted for 14% of Irish invention published this month
• 41% of publications were Irish-originating inventions"

Now, my look at the data:

• There was an increase from previous levels for Irish academic institutions share of all patents filed to 13.0%. In Q4 2012 - Q2 2013 these ranged between 7.9% and 10.7%.
• In Q3 2013 there were total of 84 Irish academic patents granted or applied for, against the total number of Irish inventions at 274 and overseas inventions at 371. 
• Numbers of Irish inventions in total declined from 283 in Q2 2013 to 274 in Q3 2013 and now stand at the lowest level since full quarterly records begin (Q4 2012).
• Number of all patents applied for or granted rose to 645 in Q3 2013 from 636 in Q2 2013. This represents the second lowest level of activity for the entire period since Q4 2012.

Charts: