Japan, Europe lead in global hydrogen patent race

South Korea and China are accelerating hydrogen technology innovation alongside major players Europe, Japan, and the United States, as the resource is increasingly seen as critical to achieving clean energy transitions and decarbonization.

According to sources,the European Patent Office and the International Energy Agency analysed global data on international patent families (groups of international patents for a specific invention) of hydrogen technologies to identify trends in innovation across countries and sectors.

Japan was the leading country in hydrogen patents from 2011 to 2020, accounting for 24% of the global total. Members of the European Union accounted for 28%, with Germany accounting for 11% and France accounting for 6%. The United States came in second at 20%, with patenting declining "significantly" after 2015 despite being the "main innovator" until 2011.

The number of international patent applications originating from South Korea and China "took off" in this period. Though Asian countries had a "modest" presence in global totals, at 7% and 4%, respectively, their average annual growth rates were 12% and 15%, according to the report.

According to the report, South Korea has a strong focus on emerging end-use applications of hydrogen. Its automotive sector is driving the decarbonization momentum, with Hyundai and Kia ranking among the top five corporate applicants in emerging hydrogen technologies motivated by climate concerns.

Toyota of Japan topped the list, with Honda and Panasonic rounding out the top five.

Fuel cell vehicles are the most widely recognized end use of hydrogen technologies. Fuel cells are also being applied to power other forms of transportation, such as planes and ships. Some patents are related to producing, supplying and storing hydrogen.

South Korea was also prominent in patenting by universities and public research institutions, which globally generated 13% of all hydrogen patent families between 2011 and 2020. Of the top 10 research institutions for hydrogen technologies, five were South Korean. The top three were all French institutions, while Japanese research centers were "interestingly" absent from the list.

Patenting in technologies related to low-emission ways of producing hydrogen were also among the notable trends. Here, China was only a small contributor of patents themselves but showed a presence as a heavy investor into hydrogen manufacturing capacity, an important driver of technology deployment.

Its investment focused on alkaline technology, accounting for about half of current capacity and one-third of planned capacity for 2025.

By contrast, deployment has "hardly started" in Japan, even though the country has "been pushing the frontiers" of inventions related to manufacturing "for decades." Europe stands out in both patenting and investment in hydrogen manufacturing technologies, according to the report.