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South African companies are spending less on research and development (R&D), as was evident when looking at the number of patent applications filed. This was according to Paulo Lopes, partner at Johannesburg-based Sibanda & Zantwijk Patent Attorneys.
According to the company, the number of patents filed in 2015 was 8 572 – this number is 20% down on the 10 954 filed in 1996.
Of more concern is the drop in the number of provisional patent filings, which is down more than 56% over the same period.
Provisional patent filings are valid for 12 months and provide an opportunity for inventors to test their products and ideas in the market before applying for final patent registration.
While the majority of provisional patent filings were by South Africans, Lopes estimates only about 5% of the national phase patent filings are from a South African origin, based on the number of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications reflecting a South African priority claim.
“There is no doubt that companies are spending less on R&D, and the result is that they are filing fewer patent applications,” says Lopes.
National phase patent filing is the final step in the filing process. The patent is then tested for novelty and inventiveness, and this is called the prosecution step, which can last two to five years.
The patent may need to be amended before it is finally granted. Patents must then be renewed annually to secure the 20-year life of the patent.
One of the reasons for the decline in new patent filings could be a trend by several multinationals to consolidate international R&D, according to Lopes.
In 1999 SA signed on to the PCT, which provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications.
But he also reckons that the high cost of registering a patent could be blamed for the decline in local investors filing.
“Other reasons could include the weak political and economic outlook,” Lopes adds.
Although the cost of filing patent applications in South Africa is reasonably affordable, the high cost of registering foreign patents can also inhibit innovation, according to Lopes.
It can cost between R30 000 and R50 000 per country on average to file a foreign patent application, plus as much as another R120 000 to R150 000 to complete the filing process. On top of this, there are annual renewal fees.
An inventor’s first step is usually a patent search to see whether anyone else had the idea first, anywhere in the world.
If so, the idea is not patentable. To save money, many inventors now use Google search tools to see if their idea has been patented before, but unless you know what you are looking for, this can give false positives that a more thorough search by a patent attorney would uncover.
According to Adams and Adams, SA’s largest firm of patent and trademark attorneys, computer technology is now the biggest source of patent applications in the world, surpassing that of all other industry sectors.
This is based on figures from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which reported that the number of patent applications worldwide topped 2m for the first time in 2011.
So while South African innovation appears to be on the wane, the same is not true of other countries.
While international patent applications have increased substantially, challenges to those patents have been equally vociferous and numerous.
Who’s innovating?
The world of medicine is abuzz with talk that a cure for cancer is now within reach, and that Alzheimer’s disease may be next to succumb to the inexorable march of science.
In the past two years the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) also approved 19 new cancer drugs.
According to a report entitled Future Postponed, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2014 was a year of notable scientific highlights, including:
- The first landing on a comet, which has already shed important light on the formation of the Earth;
- The discovery of the Higgs boson particle, which provides critical information on the origin of the universe;
- Development of the world’s fastest supercomputer;
- Breakthroughs in cancer drug research and the patenting of a new line of immune-therapy drugs, which may herald the end of cancer as a fatal illness; and
- A surge in research on plant biology that is uncovering new and better ways to meet global food requirements.
America’s emergence in 2014 as the world’s largest oil producer was hailed as a milestone for energy independence. This has its roots in the fracking industry, which in turn owes its success to new directional drilling technology, diamond drill bits tough enough to cut shale, and the first major hydraulic fracturing experiments. Many of these breakthroughs were achieved with government-sponsored research grants.
But with each step forward, a new challenge arises that taxes the minds of innovators.
The outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, now contained, is a reminder of how vulnerable the world is to a wider pandemic of emergent viral diseases.
China has emerged as a major global innovator, exemplified by the development of the world-leading Tlanhe 2 supercomputer, capable of performing quadrillions of calculations per second.
This, say the authors of the report, signals a potential vulnerability for US defence and commercial interests as China steps up its research into cybersecurity, which is likely to be one of the primary areas of innovation in the coming years.
Another area of massive R&D investment is defence technology, as the world’s major powers battle terrorism and other perceived threats.
New light-reflecting nano materials have been developed that make it harder to detect fighter planes and other vehicles, while nanocrystalline alloys as strong as steel, but much lighter, could be used for helmets and protective clothing for soldiers to shield them against ballistic fragments and blast waves.
This article originally appeared in the 21 January 2016 edition of finweek. Buy and download the magazine here.
