One way to evaluate the progress trend of the countries active in nanotechnology is the overall analysis of patent documents. In this case, the number of annually published patents in the field of nanotechnology can be deemed as one of the most significant indicators.
In accordance with the definition supposed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO/TS 18110) in 2015, the inventions whose one of claims is at least related to nanotechnology or named with one of the nanotechnology-related classification codes in the International Classification of Patents (IPCs) such as B82, are known as nanotechnology patents. Two of the world's most authentic patent publication offices include USPO and Europe Patent Office (EPO) by which more than half of the nanotechnology-oriented inventions are published throughout the world.
According to INIC's report based on the StatNano’s report from the patent database “Orbit”, in the first six months of 2017, nearly 6400 applications have been recorded by USPO and EPO for the nanotechnology-related patents, whereas 5525 cases are published by USPO.
More than half of these applications, i.e. 2814 cases are owned by the US companies and innovators. After the US as a front-runner, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China have also obtained the next statuses, respectively.
In addition, Germany and France have been ranked sixth and seventh. The presence of four countries from East Asia among the top five countries in this categorization indicates that most of East Asian's inventors and assignees pay more attention to the US nanotechnology market than other countries.
In 2017, Iran has published 13 applications for nanotechnology patents at USPTO and ranked 22nd among innovative countries, i.e. a one-step climb in its global ranking compared to the last year. It is noteworthy that in 2017, about a quarter of Iran's total published patent applications are related to Nanotechnology. In 2016, Iran has been ranked 23rd at USPTO by publishing 27 patent applications and 10 granted nanotechnology patents.
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