The Swiss voice in the world since 1935
Top stories
Stay in touch with Switzerland

Explosion in global patents for transport innovations

The number of patents on innovative transport explodes
The number of patents on innovative transport explodes Keystone-SDA

The number of patents for transport innovations has exploded over the last 20 years, rising 700% to 120,000 by 2023, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

These patents, which include those on reusable rockets, autonomous cars and ships equipped with new technologies, now account for 40% of all transport patents. More than 1.1 million innovations have been registered.

The annual growth rate of over 10% in this field is twice as high as that of the total number of patents. The main field of innovation is related to sustainable propulsion, such as batteries for electric vehicles, for greener transport.

WIPO Director Daren Tang called for collaboration on “policies, standards and regulations that promote the commercialisation” of innovations.

Five leading nations

Behind China, which is building on solid advances thanks to its leading role in electric vehicles, are Japan, the United States and South Korea. In all, five countries account for almost all patents relating to the future of transport. These have exceeded the one million mark in just over 20 years.

Since 2018, growth in the number of patent applications for older technologies has stagnated, says WIPO. Land transport accounts for 3.5 times more innovations than other modes of transport, with almost 85% of the total.

Translated from French with DeepL/mga

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

30-year-old charged with drone flight at Women's European Championships

More

Man charged with flying drone at women’s Euro 2025

This content was published on A man flew a drone around the venue on Wednesday evening during the first match of the Women's EURO 2025 in St. Gallen. The 30-year-old violated the absolute ban on flying during match days. He was reported to the police.

Read more: Man charged with flying drone at women’s Euro 2025
257 Swiss companies are members of the SBTi

More

More than 250 Swiss companies sign CO2 reduction initiative

This content was published on A total of 257 companies from Switzerland have signed up to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). In doing so, they are committing to CO2 reduction targets that are compatible with the Paris Climate Agreement.

Read more: More than 250 Swiss companies sign CO2 reduction initiative
Chaka Khan 'and friends': an evening that would have pleased Quincy Jones

More

Montreux Jazz Festival honours Quincy Jones

This content was published on American artist Chaka Khan ‘and friends’ opened the 59th Montreux Jazz Festival on Friday. For over three hours, their show, dedicated to their friend and mentor Quincy Jones, thrilled the audience,

Read more: Montreux Jazz Festival honours Quincy Jones

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR