There have been about 6,000 IoT Patents filed in India from 2009-2019 of which over 5,000 were filed in the last five years. Over 80% of these patents filed were related to applications pertaining to Industry 4.0 (Fourth industrial revolution) with the healthcare and automobile industry leading the way. These are findings of a report titled, ‘IoT: Driving the Patent Growth Story in India’, by The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM). NASSCOM is the premier trade body and chamber of commerce of the Tech industry in India and comprises over 2800-member companies including both Indian and multinational organisations that have a presence in India.
Over 70% of the total patents filed in India were from R&D centers of global companies, Indian companies and start-ups accounted for about 7% of patents. 95% of IoT patents relate 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% of the IoT patents filed in India by business
entities over 2009-19, while the share for IT-ITeS companies stood at 13%.
Patent filing will also 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 modernized 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.
Over 40% of the total IoT patents filed in the country have been granted, with global companies accounting for 90% of them. In terms of applications areas patents pertaining to Smart Electrical Appliances and Smart Wearables lead in the Home Automation category. Disaster Prevention is one of the key areas which can use IoT in assisting epidemiologists to trace patient zero and the affected contacts by overlaying geographic information system on IoT mobile data. Smart cellular wrist bands can also help in effective quarantine compliance.
