Medical device patent application growth rate is 3.6 times higher than overall average

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Along with the aging population and the paradigm shift to medical prevention and health care patent applications of medical devices are exploding due to increased interest in Korean disease control under COVID-19 situation.

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) medical device patent applications have sharply risen to 8.0% annually while overall patent applications have increased to 2.2% annually over the past 10 years (‘11~’20). In particular patent applications for medical devices increased significantly to 15.8% last year due to the influence of COVID-19 which was the driving force for successful Korean disease control.

According to the Korean Medical Devices Industry Association (KMDIA) the average annual growth rate of the domestic medical device industry market was 8.0% over the past 10 years (10~19) and 14.5% last year showing that the increase of patent application was due to stimulation of the medical device industry.

Over the past decade traditional medical device area such as surgical knives and catheters has registered the most with 13534 cases but the growth rate in the medical information device sector was the largest with an annual average of 19.7%.

The medical information device sector covers devices that deal with medical information such as patient records management health care applications and remote medical service platforms. It reflects the current of technology development under the fourth industrial revolution such as smart healthcare big data and artificial intelligence and the increase of the growth rate somehow owes to this.

Last year alone overall registrations increased significantly due to the explosive growth in the field of medical aids (140.0%) anesthesia respiratory devices (58.8%) and medical information devices (42.7%) under COVID-19 situation. This is due to a drastic increase in application related to disinfection sterilizers respiratory assistants and remote medical service belonging to the field.

Applicants were consisted of 78.6% of Koreans and 21.4% of foreigners over the past 10 years with the ratio of applicants increasing from 74.8% in the year 2011 to 77.8% in 2015 and 82.1% in 2020.

The largest applicant in numbers was Samsung Electronics which filed a total of 2316 applications over the past 10 years ranking first in image diagnosis biometrics rehabilitation assistance and medical information among 14 fields. Mid-sized companies such as Seoul Viosys Bodyfriend and Osstem Implant topped the list in medical assistants treatment assistants and dental devices while small and medium-sized companies such as MEKICS and Intromedic ranked first in anesthesia and medical scopes respectively.

Kang Hye-ri examiner of KIPO department of medical technology examination said that the transference to digital society and COVID-19 situation synergized to stimulate domestic medical device research. She hoped the competitiveness of domestic medical device industry and related intellectual properties to be enhanced altogether.

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