Over 5,000 IoT patent filed in India over last 5 years: Nasscom

Representative Image

About 6,000 Internet of Things (IoT) patents were filed in India from 2009-2019, of which over 5,000 were filed in the last five years, a report by IT industry body Nasscom said on Friday.

Over 40 percent of the total IoT patents filed have been granted, the report titled 'IoT: Driving the Patent Growth Story in India' said.

Over 80 percent of these patents filed were related to applications pertaining to Industry 4.0 with the healthcare and automobile industry leading the way, the report said, adding that 70 percent of the patents came from multinational corporations (MNCs), and 7 percent were filed by startups.

Also, 95 percent of IoT patents were related to hardware components with connectivity network and sensors being the leading sub-technologies.

Manufacturers of electronics and electrical equipment, semiconductor devices, and computer and telecom equipment, together accounted for over 60 percent of the IoT patents filed in India by business entities over 2009-19, while the share for IT-ITeS companies stood at 13 percent.

"Innovation has always been at the forefront of fighting any crisis. Emerging technologies such as IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), Blockchain and others are playing a crucial role in enabling an interconnected world as well as creating the new-normal,” Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh said.

This report is part of Nasscom's series of reports that track patent filing trends in the country across emerging technologies.

She expressed confidence that the IoT innovation especially with focus in healthcare and manufacturing will gain impetus in the tech-enabled new normal.

Patent filing is also expected to see an increase in the coming years primarily driven by healthcare, automation, manufacturing and supply chain, 5G and security systems.

IoT innovation will help countries rebound in the post-COVID era, with an increased focus in healthcare and hygiene. Healthcare will be modernised with tele-health and remote patient monitoring, through devices such as connected thermometers, advanced data collection and processing and smart wearables.

Tracking people's health conditions through sensor-enabled screening systems, and use of sensors to increase contactless common touchpoints will be crucial from a public safety perspective.

Monitoring the health of workers through protective gears as well as monitoring automated machines remotely, tracking locations of goods, will witness increased use of IoT from supply chain and manufacturing stand.