The results are in: Announcing this year’s Top 100 Global Innovators.

The Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators 2018-19 report has been published today.  This is the latest annual report which aims to identify the leading innovative organizations from around the globe, to celebrate their achievements and contributions to enriching the world through innovation, and to identify key trends and changes in the innovation ecosphere.

Derwent has a rich history of supporting innovators and the innovation process for over 50 years by providing enhanced curated patent information through the Derwent World Patents Index (DWPI) and the Derwent Patents Citation Index (DPCI).  Since our report is built on patent metrics drawn from both DWPI and DPCI data within Derwent Innovation, we have renamed the report this year to the “Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators” in line with the rebranding of the individual business units within Clarivate Analytics.

Since 2011, we have used patents as a key measure of innovation to identify the Top 100. While counting granted patents is useful, it is a single indicator of a much bigger and more important innovation picture. For a patented invention to be valuable, it must be good quality, have wide market potential and lay foundations for further developments and refinements. We examined patent portfolio strength and quality by organization, assessing not just volume of filed patents, but success in obtaining granted patents, breadth of filing of inventions and external citations. These criteria create a combined indicator score used to identify the Top 100 most innovative organizations globally.

The organizations in the Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators 2018-19 report represent three continents and 12 different markets, with major innovation hubs Japan and the U.S. accounting for 72 percent of the list. In addition to seven completely new awardees, this year we have highlighted those organizations who have consistently been recognized in each of the last eight years since the inception of the program. Many of these eight-time recipients have commented on the importance of innovation to their organization which provide valuable insight into what makes a successful innovator.

 

The organizations in the Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators 2018-19 report represent three continents and 12 different markets, with major innovation hubs Japan and the U.S. accounting for 72 percent of the list.”

 

Following the trend of last year, the epicenter of innovation continues to shift from west to east, with 48 Asian companies appearing on this year’s list, a 6.7 percent increase over last year. Notably, Mainland China companies BYD and Xiaomi appear on the list for the first time and Huawei makes the list again for the fourth time. This data tracks with our long-standing prediction that Mainland China’s drive to transform its economy from a manufacturing to a knowledge base would increase the number of Chinese companies appearing on the Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators list.  Russia makes its appearance on the list for the first time with Kaspersky Labs achieving recognition this year.

 

Figure 1. Country/Region composition of the Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators 2018-19 list. Source: Derwent World Patents Index.

 

Fast moving technologies are also at the heart of this year’s list with many of the Top 100 organizations embracing AI and 5G developments to build diversity into their ongoing innovation.  Thirty-one of the companies identified in this year’s Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators list have significant numbers of AI inventions in their total portfolios — an average of 28 inventions for each of these companies. Those organizations outside the list had an average of 19 AI inventions each.

Fifth generation (5G) mobile networks have the potential to transform digital communications beyond personal entertainment to society-building. For example, many expect 5G will become the foundational architecture for such developments as smart cities and smart agriculture. 5G innovation among our Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators from high-tech sectors has been rapidly ramping up over the last five years with fewer than 100 inventions in 2014 to over 1,000 inventions in 2018.

Additional insight and findings on the world’s most innovative organizations are available in the full report, here. Join us also for a webinar on February 14 featuring guest speakers from some of the eight-time recipients of the Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators award.

 

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