10 fastest growing technologies as determined by patent application growth in 2018, IFI found that Genomics Testing saw the greatest growth with 2.5 times as many patents as the prior year. The analysis looks at year-over-year percentage growth of pre-grant patent publications issued by the USPTO in 2018.

1. Ten Fast
Growing Technologies
@2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services
Measured by increases in US pre-grant patent
classifications from 2017–2018
© 2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services

2. IFI Methodology
• We compute the percentage increase in year
over year pre-grant patent publications from
the USPTO at the CPC group level.
• We plot 2500 CPC groups in an interactive
scatter plot. The y-axis shows the number of
pre-grant publications in that group for 2018.
G06F/3 “Electric Digital Data Processing/
Computer Systems – Input and Output
Arrangements” is the largest category and can
be found at the top. The x-axis shows the
growth rate of the CPC group from 2017 to
2018.
• We highlight the fastest growing CPC groups.
These are not the largest groups – but they are
growing rapidly.
@2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services

3. Number 10
Textiles
• Number of patent applications
2017 – 171
2018 – 273
• D10B 2401/: Physical properties
of textiles
Growth Rate: 60%
@2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services

4. Number 10
Textiles
@2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services
Example: US-20180000656-A1
Absorbent articles comprising
garment-facing laminates
Company
2018 published
applications
Procter and Gamble 11
Toray Industries 9
Nike 7
Apple 5
Toyota Boshoku 5

5. Number 9
Macromolecular Compounds
Growth Rate: 63%
• Number of patent applications
2017 – 129
2018 – 211
• C08F 20/: Homopolymers and
copolymers of compounds having
unsaturated aliphatic radicals, each
having only one carbon-to-carbon
double bond, and only one being
terminated by only one carboxyl
radical or a salt, anhydride, ester,
amide, imide or nitrile

6. Number 9
Macromolecular Compounds
Example: US-20180362768-A1
Coloring composition, light
absorption anisotropic film,
laminate, and image display device
Company
2018 published
applications
LG Chem 20
DIC Corp 16
Fujifilm 11
Arkema France 5
Novartis 5

7. Number 8
Electric Digital Data Processing
• Number of patent applications
2017 – 275
2018 – 452
• G06F 2213/: Interconnection of,
or transfer of information or other
signals between, memories,
input/output devices or central
processing units
Growth Rate: 64%
@2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services

8. Number 8
Electric Digital Data Processing
@2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services
Example: US-20180357190-A1
Memory sharing for application offload from
host processor to integrated sensor hub
Company
2018 published
applications
Intel Corp 48
IBM 31
Samsung Electronics 29
Huawei Technologies 24
Qualcomm 20

9. Number 7
Protective Circuits
Growth Rate: 74%
• Number of patent applications
2017 – 156
2018 – 272
• H02H 1/: Details of emergency
protective circuit arrangements

10. Number 7
Protective Circuits
Company
2018 published
applications
ABB Schweiz 14
General Electric Technology
GmbH
11
General Electric Co 9
Schweitzer Engineering
Laboratories
8
Example: US-20180331533-A1
Electrical system protection strategy
using slip frequency calculation

11. Number 6
Storage Devices for Warehouses
Growth Rate: 79%
• Number of patent applications
2017 – 276
2018 – 494
• B65G 1/: Storing articles,
individually or in orderly
arrangement, in warehouses or
magazines

12. Number 6
Storage Devices for Warehouses
Example: US-20180201445-A1
Item transfer using stackable
storage modules
Company
2018 published
applications
Intel Corp 51
Ocado Innovation 25
Daifuku Co 23
Amazon Technologies 23
Walmart Apollo 20

13. Number 5
Rubber-Related Polymers
and Co-polymers
• Number of patent applications
• C08F 25/ and C08F 28/:
Macromolecular compounds
obtained by reactions only
involving carbon-to-carbon
unsaturated bonds
Growth Rates: 110% and 90%
2017 2018 Increase
Polymers 145 305 110%
Co-polymers 120 229 90%

14. @2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services
Example: US-20180320033-A1
Hot melt adhesive
composition
Top Co-Polymer
Companies (C08F2800)
2018 published
applications
LG Chem 12
Dow Global Technologies 9
3M Innovative Properties 8
Bridgestone 7
Fujifilm 7
Top Polymer
Companies (C08F2500)
2018 published
applications
ExxonMobil Chemical 32
LG Chem 28
Dow Global Technologies 20
Borealis 11
SABIC Global Technologies 10
Example: US-20180362684-A1
High viscosity metallocene polymers
with low volatiles content
Number 5
Rubber-Related Polymers
and Co-polymers

15. Number 4
Healthcare Informatics:
Data Processing
• Number of patent applications
2017 – 433
2018 – 931
• G16H 20/: Information and
communication technology (ICT)
specially adapted for therapies
or health-improving plans, e.g.
for handling prescriptions, for
steering therapy or for
monitoring patient compliance
Growth Rate: 115%
@2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services

16. Number 4
Healthcare Informatics:
Data Processing
@2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services
Example: US-20180247706-A1
Athletic performance sensing and/or
tracking systems and methods
Company
2018 published
applications
IBM 28
Koninklijke Philips 22
Medtronic Minimed 19
Bigfoot Biomedical 15
Nike 15

17. Number 3
Machine Learning
• Number of patent applications
2017 – 1,155
2018 – 2,498
• G06N 3/: Computer systems
based on biological models
Growth Rate: 116%
@2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services

18. Number 3
Machine Learning
Example: US-20180365551-A1
Cognitive communication
assistant services
@2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services
Company
2018 published
applications
IBM 244
Microsoft Tech Licensing 126
Intel 108
Samsung Electronics 93
Google 89

19. Number 2
Healthcare Informatics:
Imaging
• Number of patent applications
2017 – 132
2018 – 378
• G16H 30/: Information and
communication technology (ICT)
specially adapted for the
handling or processing of
medical or healthcare data
Growth Rate: 186%
@2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services

20. Number 2
Healthcare Informatics:
Imaging
@2019 IFI CLAIMS Patent Services
Example: US-20180357815-A1
Method and computer for visualization
of fibers in medical images
Company
2018 published
applications
Siemens Healthcare 36
Koninklijke Philips 20
Canon 17
General Electric 15
Samsung Electronics 13

21. Number 1
Genomics Testing
Involving Modified Oligonucleotides
• Number of patent applications
2017 – 59
2018 – 206
• C12Q 2525/: Measuring or testing
processes involving enzymes,
nucleic acids or microorganisms –
Reactions involving modified
oligonucleotides, nucleic acids,
or nucleotides
Growth Rate: 249%

22. Number 1
Genomics Testing
Involving Modified Oligonucleotides
Example: US-20180327839-A1
Methods and systems for
processing polynucleotides
Company
2018 published
applications
10X Genomics Inc 13
Life Technologies 11
University of California 7
Harvard College 6
Applied Biosystems 5