Patent fever: How Thai inventions soared during Covid-19
The creativity of inventors in Thailand got a turbo-boost from Covid-19, according to official data.
The number of applications for invention patents soared in the pandemic – from 5,430 in 2020 to 7,903 in 2021, and 8,431 in 2022, the Commerce Ministry said on Monday.
Meanwhile applications for intellectual property – such as trademarks and formulas – averaged over 60,000 per year.
In 2020, a total of 66,580 applications were filed, up 2.21% from the year before. Those figures dropped slightly in 2021 and 2022, to 61,984 and 60,082 applications respectively.
Applications for product design patents stayed roughly the same level across the three years, at 5,430, 5,452, and 5,231.
The data shows the pandemic and ensuing economic recession had minimal impact on the creativity of Thai inventors, who have continued to come up with new products, designs, and innovations over the past three years, said the ministry.
It also showed that Thais are more aware of the importance of intellectual property protection, it added.
Thailand stayed at 43rd in the Global Innovation Index of 132 economies issued by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in 2022.
It ranked third place among Asean nations, behind Singapore (7th) and Malaysia (36th).
Switzerland topped the rankings followed by the United States and Sweden.
The phenomenon of rising patent applications in Thailand during Covid-19 is in line with the global trend reported by WIPO. The organisation logged a record of over 3.4 million applications per year from 2020 to 2022, most of which came from China, South Korea, Japan and India.
