Namaste Yogis. Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your technology questions are answered, mostly correct! Here no question is too mundane. As a bonus, a proverb is also included. Today’s question, submitted by Albert from Iowa and his question is, why the number 3924?
Albert, you came to the right place. Let’s talk about this number, 3,924. According to the Blockchain Global Patent Authorization, as of December 2020, there were 3,924 patents granted for blockchain technology worldwide. For a new technology, 3,924 is a staggering number and as I said previously the number reflects 2020 statistics. Holy worldwide adoption, Batman!
This naturally leads to the next question. What countries lead in blockchain patents? According to Lexology, U.S. companies accounted for 39% of all patents granted, South Korea comes in second with 21%, and China was a close third at 19%. In other words, the US, South Korea, and China accounted for 79% of all blockchain patents globally up to year 2020. But that is backward looking data. If we want to understand the next wave, we must examine pending patent applications as that tells a forward-looking story. Okay, let’s do it.
In Digital Finance by Baxter Hines, he cites The Block as the source for pending patents. According to that source, Chinese companies should dominate the next wave of blockchain patents. In fact, the top five companies with blockchain patents pending are all Chinese. Tencent, Alibaba, and Ant Financial alone have 1,263 patents pending whereas the top three American companies (Walmart, IBM, and Microsoft) have only 123. Is there more to the story? I think so. Read on.
Let’s go back to 2019. In 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping identified the advancement of blockchain technology as a national priority and declared China will “lead the next wave of digital transformation” and called for greater study, investment, and regulation. What happened next?
Well, in typical top-down authoritarian fashion, more than 35,000 firms responded to Xi’s appeal by registering their companies as “blockchain related” and expanding the use of blockchain technology into their businesses’ operations. Holy jumping right on the task, Batman! But hold on there is more to the story.
Of the 35,000 that responded only 730 qualified for the Chinese government’s blockchain certification (2%). Nevertheless, more than 10,000 blockchain patent applications were filed! But quantity and quality are not always synonymous, and the Chinese government approved only a small fraction of the applications. Perhaps, Xi needed to be more explicit in his order. I suggest he try this next time: “Listen up comrades. We need lots of high-quality world class blockchain patents.” Lol!
Research and development into blockchain technology is big business. There is a battle for blockchain technology supremacy between the US and China, with South Korea in the hunt also. The winner of this battle will have an advantage across many developing technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). Many technology analysts are forecasting a fuse of blockchain, AI, and the internet of things (IOT) converging into a tsunami of tech advancements in the next decade. Hold on to your safety belts, Batman!
I close today with a proverb from Denmark, where people say: Never advise anyone to go to war or to marry. Wise words indeed!
Until next time.
Yogi Nelson
Blockchain & AI Forum 