- International families
- 8,1652015 to 2024
- Leading country
- United States1.1× the next
- All families
- 64khome filings included
- Over five years
- Steady2020 to 2024 against the five before
Year by year
Patent families by country of origin and the year of the earliest filing, 2000 to 2025; 2025 is a part year, still filling in. International families are those for which protection was sought beyond one country.
Volume
International patent families in the capability, by the year of the earliest filing.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
Share by country
Each country's share of the year's international families, in per cent: the capability's five largest countries of origin, 2015 to 2024, and the rest of the world.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
Country leaderboard
International patent families, 2015 to 2024, by country of origin. Growth compares the latest five full years with the five before.
Ten largest
United States
Japan
China
South Korea
Germany
France
Canada
United Kingdom
Saudi Arabia
Netherlands
1,780
1,554
1,245
636
477
222
188
172
149
130
| 2000 to 2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 1,780 | 21.8% | 1.0× | 2,867 | |
| 2 | Japan | 1,554 | 19.0% | 0.9× | 3,914 | |
| 3 | China | 1,245 | 15.2% | 1.4× | 49,085 | |
| 4 | South Korea | 636 | 7.8% | 0.8× | 4,124 | |
| 5 | Germany | 477 | 5.8% | 0.8× | 662 | |
| 6 | France | 222 | 2.7% | 1.0× | 301 | |
| 7 | Canada | 188 | 2.3% | 0.8× | 266 | |
| 8 | United Kingdom | 172 | 2.1% | 1.0× | 220 | |
| 9 | Saudi Arabia | 149 | 1.8% | 1.0× | 310 | |
| 10 | Netherlands | 130 | 1.6% | 1.0× | 165 | |
| 11 | Italy | 124 | 1.5% | 1.1× | 212 | |
| 12 | Taiwan | 114 | 1.4% | 1.2× | 268 | |
| 13 | Israel | 113 | 1.4% | 0.9× | 133 | |
| 14 | Denmark | 104 | 1.3% | 1.0× | 112 | |
| 15 | Australia | 97 | 1.2% | 1.3× | 132 | |
| 16 | Sweden | 93 | 1.1% | 1.2× | 97 | |
| 17 | Singapore | 92 | 1.1% | 1.0× | 99 | |
| 18 | Switzerland | 90 | 1.1% | 0.7× | 107 | |
| 19 | India | 86 | 1.1% | 1.0× | 97 | |
| 20 | Spain | 81 | 1.0% | 0.9× | 122 | |
| 21 | Austria | 57 | 0.7% | 1.0× | 72 | |
| 22 | Belgium | 51 | 0.6% | 1.7× | 61 | |
| 23 | Finland | 47 | 0.6% | 0.5× | 52 | |
| 24 | Norway | 41 | 0.5% | 0.5× | 47 | |
| 25 | Türkiye | 40 | 0.5% | 1.2× | 52 | |
| 26 | Russia | 31 | 0.4% | 0.7× | 204 | |
| 27 | Brazil | 24 | 0.3% | 0.8× | 72 | |
| 28 | New Zealand | 24 | 0.3% | 1.4× | 29 | |
| 29 | Ireland | 19 | 0.2% | 1.4× | 23 | |
| 30 | Malaysia | 19 | 0.2% | 1.1× | 41 | |
| 31 | South Africa | 16 | 0.2% | 0.5× | 20 | |
| 32 | Hong Kong | 15 | 0.2% | 0.7× | 21 | |
| 33 | Portugal | 14 | 0.2% | 2.5× | 15 | |
| 34 | Mexico | 13 | 0.2% | 2.3× | 34 | |
| 35 | Poland | 11 | 0.1% | 1.2× | 56 | |
| 36 | Czechia | 5 | 0.1% | 1.5× | 15 | |
| 37 | Luxembourg | 4 | 0.0% | 1.0× | 5 | |
| 38 | Cayman Islands | 4 | 0.0% | 0.3× | 5 | |
| 39 | Hungary | 3 | 0.0% | 0.5× | 9 | |
| 40 | Liechtenstein | 2 | 0.0% | 1.0× | 2 |
Applicants
The largest applicants by international patent families, 2015 to 2024: across the world, then within each of the five countries with the most families in Bulk Water Transfer & Desalination. Names are as held in the source and are not consolidated across subsidiaries.
Global
8,165 international families
KURITA WATER IND LTD · Japan
ORGANO CORP · Japan
TORAY INDUSTRIES · Japan
ORGANO KK · Japan
NITTO DENKO CORP · Japan
SAUDI ARABIAN OIL CO · Saudi Arabia
223
158
153
105
82
73
United States
1,780 international families
EVOQUA WATER TECH LLC
ENTEGRIS INC
MASSACHUSETTS INST TECHNOLOGY
UNIV CALIFORNIA
GRADIANT CORP
ECOLAB USA INC
59
40
35
35
30
29
Japan
1,554 international families
KURITA WATER IND LTD
ORGANO CORP
TORAY INDUSTRIES
ORGANO KK
NITTO DENKO CORP
NOMURA MICRO SCIENCE KK
223
158
152
105
82
54
China
1,245 international families
MIDEA GROUP CO LTD
FOSHAN SHUNDE MIDEA WATER DISPENSER MFG CO LTD
UNIV TONGJI
VONTRON TECH CO LTD
NANJING UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
UNIV TSINGHUA
52
40
21
20
18
18
South Korea
636 international families
LG CHEMICAL LTD
LG ELECTRONICS INC
COWAY CO LTD
DOOSAN HEAVY IND & CONSTRUCTION CO LTD
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD
TORAY ADVANCED MAT KOREA INC
48
45
34
31
29
24
Germany
477 international families
BASF SE
BOSCH GMBH ROBERT
EVONIK OPERATIONS GMBH
BRITA GMBH
FRESENIUS MEDICAL CARE DEUTSCHLAND GMBH
SIEMENS AG
35
30
18
17
16
16
Similar capabilities
The nine capabilities that share the most international patent families with Bulk Water Transfer & Desalination, 2015 to 2024: the families counted in both as a share of those counted in either. Each card shows its five largest countries.
Strategic Infrastructure
Water Supply & Treatment
26.9% shared · 6,986 families in both
United States
China
Japan
South Korea
Germany
5,013
4,301
3,866
1,986
1,665
Strategic Infrastructure
Wastewater & Sanitation
23.7% shared · 6,991 families in both
United States
China
Japan
South Korea
Germany
5,326
5,281
4,432
2,243
2,077
Strategic Infrastructure
Irrigation & Agricultural Water
2.1% shared · 215 families in both
United States
China
Japan
Germany
Israel
621
455
164
124
100
Strategic Infrastructure
Processing & Refining
1.4% shared · 454 families in both
United States
China
Japan
Germany
France
5,663
3,476
2,794
1,548
1,459
Trade & Investment
Strategic Supply Security
1.4% shared · 230 families in both
Japan
China
United States
South Korea
Germany
2,305
1,800
1,307
1,130
383
Strategic Infrastructure
Dams, Reservoirs & Flood Defence
1.2% shared · 133 families in both
China
United States
Germany
Japan
South Korea
808
403
293
212
172
Strategic Infrastructure
Chemicals & Hazardous Process Industry
1.1% shared · 867 families in both
United States
Japan
China
Germany
South Korea
16,120
13,036
11,408
6,357
5,716
Critical Technology
Hydrogen, Ammonia & Sustainable Fuels
0.9% shared · 420 families in both
Japan
United States
Germany
South Korea
China
8,805
6,231
5,748
4,176
2,470
Strategic Infrastructure
Hydropower
0.8% shared · 100 families in both
China
United States
Japan
South Korea
Germany
849
601
301
249
242
Crosswalk
How Bulk Water Transfer & Desalination is matched to the patent classifications. The entries below were chosen for it; each stands for itself and everything beneath it in the scheme, 56 Cooperative entries in all. A patent family counts when any of its codes, in either scheme and at any office, falls under one of them. Codes since retired are placed under the entries that replaced them.
| Entry | Title in the scheme | Why it is chosen | CPC codes | IPC codes | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C02F1/44 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by dialysis, osmosis or reverse osmosis | Water treatment by reverse osmosis and other membranes | 7 | 2 | 144,532 |
| C02F1/04 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by heating by distillation or evaporation | Water treatment by distillation or evaporation | 15 | 8 | 81,018 |
| B01D61/02 | Reverse osmosis; Hyperfiltration ; Nanofiltration | Reverse osmosis and nanofiltration processes | 12 | 7 | 87,129 |
| C02F2103/08 | Seawater, e.g. for desalination | Seawater as the water treated, for desalination | 1 | 1 | 36,227 |
| Y02A20/124 | Water desalination | Tagged water desalination | 6 | none | 73,647 |
| E03B5/00 | Use of pumping plants or installations; Layouts thereof | Pumping plants for water supply | 6 | 4 | 11,399 |
| E02B5/00 | Artificial water canals, e.g. irrigation canals | Artificial water canals | 9 | 6 | 31,407 |
CPC and IPC codes are the codes in use on patent documents, at any office, that fall under the entry. Documents is the larger of the two schemes' counts of documents carrying one of them. An entry with no IPC codes can be told apart only in the Cooperative scheme.
The Cooperative codes in use that count towards Bulk Water Transfer & Desalination: 56 codes on 433,551 documents. The full crosswalk is in the cpc-to-capability.csv download.
| Code | Title | Under entry | How placed | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C02F1/441 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by dialysis, osmosis or reverse osmosis by reverse osmosis | C02F1/44 | In the scheme | 48,399 |
| Y02A20/131 | Reverse-osmosis | Y02A20/124 | In the scheme | 37,402 |
| C02F1/444 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by dialysis, osmosis or reverse osmosis by ultrafiltration or microfiltration | C02F1/44 | In the scheme | 36,850 |
| C02F2103/08 | Seawater, e.g. for desalination | C02F2103/08 | In the scheme | 36,227 |
| C02F1/44 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by dialysis, osmosis or reverse osmosis | C02F1/44 | In the scheme | 36,129 |
| Y02A20/124 | Water desalination | Y02A20/124 | In the scheme | 26,259 |
| B01D61/025 | Reverse osmosis; Hyperfiltration | B01D61/02 | In the scheme | 25,773 |
| C02F1/04 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by heating by distillation or evaporation | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 20,618 |
| C02F1/442 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by dialysis, osmosis or reverse osmosis by nanofiltration | C02F1/44 | In the scheme | 14,861 |
| B01D61/027 | Nanofiltration | B01D61/02 | In the scheme | 14,527 |
| C02F1/048 | Purification of waste water by evaporation | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 13,685 |
| C02F1/14 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by heating by distillation or evaporation using solar energy | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 9,349 |
| B01D61/08 | Apparatus therefor | B01D61/02 | In the scheme | 8,252 |
| B01D61/10 | Accessories; Auxiliary operations | B01D61/02 | In the scheme | 7,822 |
| B01D61/12 | Controlling or regulating | B01D61/02 | In the scheme | 7,670 |
| B01D61/04 | Feed pretreatment | B01D61/02 | In the scheme | 7,341 |
| Y02A20/142 | Solar thermal; Photovoltaics | Y02A20/124 | In the scheme | 6,076 |
| C02F1/043 | Details | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 5,909 |
| C02F1/16 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by heating by distillation or evaporation using waste heat from other processes | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 5,616 |
| B01D61/02 | Reverse osmosis; Hyperfiltration ; Nanofiltration | B01D61/02 | In the scheme | 5,011 |
| C02F1/445 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by dialysis, osmosis or reverse osmosis by forward osmosis | C02F1/44 | In the scheme | 4,357 |
| C02F1/06 | Flash evaporation | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 4,339 |
| B01D61/026 | Reverse osmosis; Hyperfiltration comprising multiple reverse osmosis steps | B01D61/02 | In the scheme | 3,428 |
| B01D61/06 | Energy recovery | B01D61/02 | In the scheme | 3,322 |
| C02F1/041 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by heating by distillation or evaporation by means of vapour compression | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 3,252 |
| E02B5/02 | Making or lining canals | E02B5/00 | In the scheme | 3,244 |
| C02F1/08 | Thin film evaporation | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 3,014 |
| E02B5/085 | Arresting devices for waterborne materials, e.g. gratings | E02B5/00 | In the scheme | 2,816 |
| C02F1/447 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by dialysis, osmosis or reverse osmosis by membrane distillation | C02F1/44 | In the scheme | 2,803 |
| E02B5/08 | Details, e.g. gates, screens | E02B5/00 | In the scheme | 2,701 |
| C02F1/12 | Spray evaporation | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 2,645 |
| E03B5/00 | Use of pumping plants or installations; Layouts thereof | E03B5/00 | In the scheme | 2,444 |
| C02F1/10 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by heating by distillation or evaporation by direct contact with a particulate solid or with a fluid, as a heat transfer medium | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 2,376 |
| Y02A20/141 | Wind power | Y02A20/124 | In the scheme | 2,207 |
| B01D61/029 | Multistep processes comprising different kinds of membrane processes selected from reverse osmosis, hyperfiltration or nanofiltration | B01D61/02 | In the scheme | 1,951 |
| C02F1/042 | Prevention of deposits | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 1,916 |
| Y02A20/144 | Wave energy | Y02A20/124 | In the scheme | 1,694 |
| C02F1/18 | Transportable devices to obtain potable water | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 1,500 |
| E02B5/00 | Artificial water canals, e.g. irrigation canals | E02B5/00 | In the scheme | 1,442 |
| B01D61/081 | Apparatus therefor used at home, e.g. kitchen | B01D61/02 | In the scheme | 1,193 |
| C02F1/448 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by dialysis, osmosis or reverse osmosis by pervaporation | C02F1/44 | In the scheme | 1,133 |
| C02F1/046 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by heating by distillation or evaporation under vacuum produced by a barometric column | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 1,005 |
| E02B5/082 | Closures | E02B5/00 | In the scheme | 940 |
| B01D61/0271 | Nanofiltration comprising multiple nanofiltration steps | B01D61/02 | In the scheme | 839 |
| C02F1/045 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by heating by distillation or evaporation for obtaining ultra-pure water | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 818 |
| E03B5/02 | Use of pumping plants or installations; Layouts thereof arranged in buildings | E03B5/00 | In the scheme | 592 |
| E03B5/06 | Special equipment, e.g. well seals and connections for well casings or the like | E03B5/00 | In the scheme | 383 |
| E03B5/04 | Use of pumping plants or installations; Layouts thereof arranged in wells | E03B5/00 | In the scheme | 348 |
| C02F1/047 | Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by heating by distillation or evaporation using eolic energy | C02F1/04 | In the scheme | 294 |
| E03B5/025 | Use of pumping plants or installations; Layouts thereof arranged in buildings with surface tanks | E03B5/00 | In the scheme | 211 |
| E02B5/087 | Divisors | E02B5/00 | In the scheme | 129 |
| E02B5/04 | Navigable canals | E02B5/00 | In the scheme | 122 |
| E02B5/005 | Canals entirely situated above ground level, e.g. on piers | E02B5/00 | In the scheme | 120 |
| E02B5/06 | Operating equipment in connection with canals | E02B5/00 | In the scheme | 109 |
| E03B5/045 | Use of pumping plants or installations; Layouts thereof arranged in wells with surface tanks | E03B5/00 | In the scheme | 79 |
| Y02A20/138 | Water desalination using renewable energy | Y02A20/124 | In the scheme | 9 |