Mapping the world’s
innovation frontier
- 134.5M
- Global Patent Applications
- 63.0M
- Patent Families
- 16.0M
- Unique Patent Applicants
The Shape of National Innovation
How the world's international patent families divide, year by year: between the ten largest countries of origin and the rest of the world, and between the nine domains of the National Capability Framework. 2025 is a part year, still filling in.
The ten largest countries
Each country's share of the year's international families, in per cent: the ten largest countries of origin, as on the Nations page, and the rest of the world.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
The nine domains
Each domain's share of the year, in per cent. A family counts in each domain it reaches; the capability that counts every family is left out.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
Patent applications
Applications filed at every patent office, each office counting its own: one invention filed at five offices counts five times. Utility models included.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
Patent families
Inventions, each counted once however many offices it reaches: the family of every application that claims the same priority.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
International families
Families filed at two offices or more, or through the EPO or the PCT: inventions for which protection was sought beyond one country.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
Innovation and National Capability
The National Capability Framework is organised into nine capability domains. The patent classifications reach 187 of its 288 capabilities; here are those with the most international patent families in each domain, in the period and for the country chosen. Select a capability for its page.
Hard Power
Critical Technology
836k international families
Strategic Infrastructure
809k international families
178,065
153,131
142,571
50,599
46,081
44,778
National Security
24k international families
Soft Power
Human Capital
275k international families
Information & Influence
47k international families
Governance & Integrity
44k international families
Economic Power
Financial Strength
17k international families
Production & Innovation
1.98M international families
Trade & Investment
42k international families
Regional Trends
Each country's 8 largest capabilities, by international patent families, 2015 to 2024, with each bar in the colour of its capability domain. Leaders are the ten largest this decade; the regions are the framework's four, largest first.
The ten countries with the most international patent families from 2020 to 2026, with their largest capabilities over those years. 2025 is a part year and 2026 has barely begun.
China
419,203 international families · 21.1% of the world
Japan
390,449 international families · 19.7% of the world
United States
368,627 international families · 18.6% of the world
South Korea
203,145 international families · 10.2% of the world
Germany
148,645 international families · 7.5% of the world
Taiwan
55,673 international families · 2.8% of the world
France
55,669 international families · 2.8% of the world
Switzerland
37,183 international families · 1.9% of the world
United Kingdom
36,167 international families · 1.8% of the world
Italy
27,806 international families · 1.4% of the world
Where the inventions come from
International patent families, 2015 to 2024, by the country of the applicant: inventions for which protection was sought beyond one country. Counting every family, home filings included, gives China 13.7M and the United States 1.41M; offices differ greatly in how readily they are used at home, so that count says how much a country files, not how it compares.
Fifteen largest countries of origin
775,899
719,368
678,233
351,396
298,587
110,421
107,651
69,989
66,788
52,879
52,363
47,637
40,013
27,005
23,446
Five countries, year by year
International patent families by the year of the earliest filing, to 2025. 2025 is a part year: applications are published 18 months after filing, so it is still filling in.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
The critical technology groups
International patent families, 2015 to 2024, that count towards each of the ten technology families of the framework's Critical Technology domain, by country of origin. The match rests on a first-pass crosswalk.
| Advanced Materials & Manufacturing | 31,640 | 14,182 | 35,596 | 11,165 | 12,927 | Japan, 1.1× the next |
| Energy Technologies | 22,932 | 34,331 | 43,724 | 33,029 | 17,080 | Japan, 1.3× the next |
| Semiconductors & Advanced Computing | 44,576 | 32,810 | 78,404 | 39,885 | 10,936 | Japan, 1.8× the next |
| Artificial Intelligence | 65,488 | 51,360 | 43,285 | 29,676 | 13,519 | United States, 1.3× the next |
| Quantum Technologies | 2,860 | 785 | 1,310 | 504 | 658 | United States, 2.2× the next |
| Connectivity, Cyber & Trust Technologies | 92,579 | 107,573 | 54,788 | 39,171 | 13,788 | China, 1.2× the next |
| Sensing, Timing & Navigation | 18,748 | 12,517 | 21,947 | 8,522 | 9,638 | Japan, 1.2× the next |
| Robotics & Autonomous Systems | 36,494 | 22,694 | 36,506 | 15,572 | 12,470 | Japan, 1.0× the next |
| Biotechnology & Health Technologies | 67,642 | 26,145 | 16,229 | 11,334 | 7,811 | United States, 2.6× the next |
| Space Technologies | 3,503 | 2,346 | 1,016 | 563 | 537 | United States, 1.5× the next |
Largest applicants
By international patent families, 2015 to 2024. Names are as held in the source and are not consolidated across subsidiaries.
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD · South Korea
HUAWEI TECH CO LTD · China
QUALCOMM INC · United States
CANON KK · Japan
TOYOTA MOTOR CORP · Japan
LG ELECTRONICS INC · South Korea
TOYOTA MOTOR CO LTD · Japan
MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP · Japan
BOSCH GMBH ROBERT · Germany
BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO LTD · China
67,618
62,376
29,910
28,029
26,966
26,850
26,132
26,131
25,874
24,519