Patents help establishing a strong market position, thereby reducing competition for a brand. Furthermore, patent portfolios are also demonstrative of high level of technological capability, specialization and expertise of a company. In that light, in a yet another feat, Huawei Technologies claims the top spot in the European Patent Office (EPO) ranking for 2019. In a recent report published by the EPO, Huawei has been ranked the top telecom company in Europe, with a maximum number of patents in 2019. The company ranking reflects the growing importance of digital technologies and Huawei’s leadership in the tech-innovation on a global scale.
The report recorded as many as 3,524 patent last year, by Huawei, followed by other industry giants viz. Samsung, LG, United Technologies and Siemens in the top five. Two thirds of Huawei’s applications were in the field of digital communications, which includes the next generation of wireless communications know as 5G and AI. Adding to the insights, the top 10 comprises four companies from Asia; four from Europe and two from the US.
Huawei’s rise to the top is hinged on the company’s huge investment in R&D, which is reflected in the number of patent applications. In 2019, Huawei is estimated to have invested more than 15 billion Euro in R&D. Huawei keeps investing 10%-15% of its annual revenue in R&D. Huawei’s 10-year investment in R&D is around 73 billion US dollars. The Munich-based EPO put a notable technological rise down to the developments of 5G internet and artificial intelligence (AI). These figures revealed digital communication patents went up by 19.6%, overtaking medical technology, grabbing the top spot for the field with the most innovation.
Huawei also has been in the forefront of many innovations, first one to introduce features like reverse wireless charging, on-board AI, advanced camera; popularized the triple rear camera setup and then moving up to four and also upgraded the telephoto lens to a periscope lens on the back which is capable of zooming up to 50x; Huawei is the first brand to have 7nm Dual Neural Processor Unit (NPU) chipset. It is the world’s first chipset in the size clocking at 2.8GHz, as well as supporting LTE Cat.19 connectivity allowing download speeds up to 1.6Gbps. Also made gradient colour design mainstream.
Huawei enjoys a considerable advantage in patents, which is considered as crucial intellectual ammunition in international competition. Over the past few decades, Huawei has accumulated a leading number of overseas patents.
By 2015, Huawei Consumer BG had more than 9000 global patent applications, including more than 2000 patents obtained in China and 1100 in overseas areas like Europe, America and other regions. Huawei’s top priority is R&D investment and cutting edge innovation, which results in glowing reviews of the products line up across the world.
The European Patent Office (EPO) has released a patent ranking for 2019. The data released reveals that the office received a total of over 181,000 patent applications in 2019. The figure represented an increase of 4% over 2018. This list is head by Huawei and followed by Samsung and LG. China is leading with The United States, Germany, and Japan making up to the top three.
