Thomson Reuters Analysis of 2008 World Patent Activity Finds U.S. Market Infused with Asian Innovations

The following charts show the breakout of the top ten innovators in each region. The data was compiled using the Derwent World Patents Index (DWPI) database.

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DATA: TOP PATENTING COMPANIES

Table 1: United States Top Innovators 2008

# of records COMPANY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
7404 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD Korea
6576 INT BUSINESS MACHINES CORP United States
2931 MICROSOFT CORP United States
2421 TOSHIBA KK Japan
2019 CANON KK Japan
1751 FUJITSU LTD Japan
1691 SONY CORP Japan
1523 GENERAL ELECTRIC CO  United States
1291 SEIKO EPSON CORP Japan
1166 HON HAI PRECISION IND CO LTD Taiwan

Table 2: Europe Top Innovators 2008

(Europe comprises the European Patent Office, in addition to these specific countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.)
# of records COMPANY REGION OF ORIGIN
2753 SIEMENS AG Europe
2619 BOSCH GMBH ROBERT Europe
1475 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD Korea
1250 DAIMLER AG Europe
905 RENAULT SAS Europe
775 PEUGEOT CITROEN AUTOMOBILES SA Europe
616 BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERKE AG Europe
607 ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG Europe
602 VOLKSWAGEN AG Europe
583 SCHAEFFLER KG Europe

Table 3: Japan Top Innovators 2008

# of records COMPANY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
8234 MATSUSHITA DENKI SANGYO KK Japan
8061 TOYOTA JIDOSHA KK Japan
6281  TOSHIBA KK Japan
6242  SEIKO EPSON CORP Japan
5156 CANON KK Japan
4022 SHARP KK Japan
3992 MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP Japan
3657 RICOH KK Japan
3398 SONY CORP Japan
3203 NEC CORP Japan

Table 4: China Top Innovators 2008

# of records COMPANY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
3864 ZTE COMMUNICATION CO LTD China
2849 HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO LTD China
1727 UNIV ZHEJIANG China
1061 ZHONGXING COMMUNICATION CO LTD SHENZHE China
967 UNIV SHANGHAI JIAOTONG China
916 UNIV QINGHUA China
657 UNIV BEIJING AERONAUTICS & ASTRONAUTIC China
565 BIYADI CO LTD China
551 BYD CO LTD China
548 UNIV DONGHUA China

Table 5: Korea Top Innovators 2008

# of records COMPANY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
6253 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD KR
4205 LG ELECTRONICS INC KR
2950 HYUNDAI MOTOR CO LTD KR
2180 HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR INC KR
2143 LG DISPLAY CO LTD KR
1194 DAEWOO ELECTRONICS CORP KR
1082 SAMSUNG SDI CO LTD KR
745 DONGBU ELECTRONICS CO LTD KR
736 ELECTRONICS & TELECOM RES INST KR
572 SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS CO KR