That’s right, according to Citi’s latest Disruptive Innovations report, Tokyo is now the leader in patent filings around the world. They boasted a shocikign 13,000 patents in 2013 alone, showing the world that innovation has moved on from the western states of the US and have now settled in the east. These findings are even more shocking considering the Shenzhen-Guangdong area came in second place with an impressive 10,000 patents. Silicon Valley (San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose) did manage to rank third with 8,000 patents.
However, while these two Asian areas are churning out more patents than they know what to do with, VC funding has not held strong in these areas. As the reports states, this may be due to the fact that larger companies are the ones filing the patents, rather than budding startups. This doesn’t mean, however, that Tokyo and the Shenzhen-Guangdong area aren’t being innovative. As the data shows, they still maintain an impressive lead in patents filed for information and communication technology products and devices. That means that tech maybe be finding a new home in the east.
Whether or not this spells success for the Tokyo and Shenzhen-Guangdong area remains to be seen. As everyone knows, a patent in no ways guarantees a successful product, or even a product at all. However, the staggeringly high numbers proves that these Asian countries are making a serious push to establish themselves as tech hubs to be taken seriously. And with this data, it is hard to do anything but look at them with admiration. H / T World Economic Forum
