Tag Archives: Y.L. Kao

Taiwan and its nanotechnology patents

In an Oct. 2, 2013 news item by Chung Jung-feng and Y.L. Kao for the Focus Taiwan [online] News Channel, an unnamed industry expert claimed Taiwan is ranked fourth-top in the world in terms of the number and share of granted nanotechnology patents in 2012,

With the opening of the 2013 Taiwan Nano Week and Exhibition at the Taipei World Trade Center Wednesday, an industry expert said Taiwan is ranked fourth-top in the world in terms of the number and share of granted nanotechnology patents in 2012.

Wu Chung-yu, head of the National Program on Nanotechnology (NPNT), said that nanotechnology is expected to be a main driver for the technology industry.

Wu said that currently, the European Union, the United States, Germany, Japan and South Korea are mapping out plans for the development of nanotechnology by 2020.

According to the news item, Taiwan’s NPNT currently holds 1500 patents. The government has invested almost NT$14.5B since 2009 in 860 nanotechnology transfer projects in the NPNT’s second phase (1st phase was 2003-2008).

I was not able to find any statistics that directly supported the contention that Taiwan is the fourth largest holder of patents worldwide but there was an intriguing paper, Nanotechnology Patent Survey: Who Will Be the Leaders in the Fifth Technology Revolution? by Carey C. Jordan, Iona N. Kaiser, and Valerie C. Moore,, which puts Taiwan in 5th place for patents (tied with Canada and Great Britain at 3%) in a 2011 list featuring countries only (p. 3 PDF, p. 124 print)). Also in 2011, a Taiwanese company, Hon Hai Precision Industry (computers and electronics), placed 3rd in a list of 25 top assignees in nanotechnology patent literature (p. 4 PDF; p. 125 print).