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International
Total patented inventions: 85,144
- 31% annual growth rate observed between 2011 and 2017.
- 68% of patented inventions were filed between 2011 and 2017.
Patent Filing Trend (1998 – 2017) - Patented Inventions | Publication Year | Patented Inventions |
| 1998 | 1,242 |
| 1999 | 1,167 |
| 2000 | 1,245 |
| 2001 | 1,304 |
| 2002 | 1,794 |
| 2003 | 1,799 |
| 2004 | 1,818 |
| 2005 | 1,874 |
| 2006 | 2,141 |
| 2007 | 2,395 |
| 2008 | 2,829 |
| 2009 | 3,447 |
| 2010 | 3,888 |
| 2011 | 3,673 |
| 2012 | 4,568 |
| 2013 | 5,584 |
| 2014 | 6,889 |
| 2015 | 8,602 |
| 2016 | 10,669 |
| 2017 | 18,216 |
Patent Filing Trend (1998 – 2017) - Annual Growth Rate | Publication Year | Annual Growth Rate |
| 1998 | - |
| 1999 | -6.04% |
| 2000 | 6.68% |
| 2001 | 4.74% |
| 2002 | 37.58% |
| 2003 | 0.28% |
| 2004 | 1.06% |
| 2005 | 3.08% |
| 2006 | 14.25% |
| 2007 | 11.86% |
| 2008 | 18.12% |
| 2009 | 21.85% |
| 2010 | 12.79% |
| 2011 | -5.53% |
| 2012 | 24.37% |
| 2013 | 22.24% |
| 2014 | 23.37% |
| 2015 | 24.87% |
| 2016 | 24.03% |
| 2017 | 70.74% |
Chinese and American assignees cumulatively accounted for 65% of total patented inventions filed globally.
Patent Filing Trend (1998 – 2017) | Publication Year | China | United States | Japan | Republic of Korea | Germany | Canada | United Kingdom | Australia |
| 1998 | 5 | 337 | 435 | 18 | 97 | 14 | 12 | 2 |
| 1999 | 5 | 272 | 443 | 26 | 98 | 10 | 5 | 0 |
| 2000 | 11 | 335 | 395 | 53 | 87 | 6 | 8 | 3 |
| 2001 | 15 | 406 | 341 | 42 | 66 | 13 | 9 | 2 |
| 2002 | 19 | 459 | 363 | 37 | 114 | 32 | 28 | 3 |
| 2003 | 54 | 457 | 333 | 42 | 85 | 16 | 15 | 3 |
| 2004 | 72 | 434 | 334 | 51 | 91 | 26 | 9 | 4 |
| 2005 | 86 | 455 | 420 | 65 | 111 | 18 | 9 | 12 |
| 2006 | 116 | 560 | 480 | 72 | 92 | 21 | 24 | 20 |
| 2007 | 192 | 716 | 447 | 139 | 103 | 34 | 17 | 17 |
| 2008 | 423 | 772 | 496 | 170 | 126 | 43 | 18 | 11 |
| 2009 | 697 | 976 | 510 | 165 | 142 | 58 | 19 | 14 |
| 2010 | 960 | 1,074 | 493 | 127 | 154 | 46 | 21 | 27 |
| 2011 | 1,059 | 961 | 407 | 178 | 118 | 50 | 22 | 23 |
| 2012 | 1,932 | 967 | 387 | 197 | 129 | 50 | 35 | 16 |
| 2013 | 2,631 | 1,429 | 484 | 276 | 195 | 61 | 55 | 13 |
| 2014 | 3,513 | 1,832 | 443 | 402 | 163 | 69 | 33 | 19 |
| 2015 | 4,655 | 2,064 | 539 | 385 | 141 | 69 | 41 | 15 |
| 2016 | 6,180 | 2,386 | 622 | 471 | 173 | 81 | 46 | 27 |
| 2017 | 11,955 | 3,477 | 794 | 690 | 227 | 135 | 71 | 23 |
IP Concentration Index
Index approaching 0.5 in 2017 thereby indicating dominance of two countries in AI patent activity.
- Metric developed to gauge the level of concentration of AI patented inventions by country of origin.
- Index ranges between 1/n and 1, where n is the number of participants.
IP Concentration Index | Publication Year | IP Concentration Index |
| 1998 | 0.19 |
| 1999 | 0.20 |
| 2000 | 0.17 |
| 2001 | 0.16 |
| 2002 | 0.11 |
| 2003 | 0.10 |
| 2004 | 0.09 |
| 2005 | 0.11 |
| 2006 | 0.12 |
| 2007 | 0.13 |
| 2008 | 0.13 |
| 2009 | 0.14 |
| 2010 | 0.15 |
| 2011 | 0.16 |
| 2012 | 0.22 |
| 2013 | 0.27 |
| 2014 | 0.32 |
| 2015 | 0.35 |
| 2016 | 0.38 |
| 2017 | 0.46 |
Canadian Researchers
Patented inventions filed by Canadian researchers grew at a similar rate when compared to researchers globally over the past five years.
2,497 Canadian researchers filed 1,419 patented inventions.
Patent Filing Trend (1998 – 2017) | Publication Year | CIPO | USPTO | WIPO (PCT) | Other | Annual Growth Rate |
| 1998 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | - |
| 1999 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -7.69% |
| 2000 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 66.67% |
| 2001 | 4 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 45.00% |
| 2002 | 17 | 31 | 10 | 0 | 100.00% |
| 2003 | 14 | 29 | 5 | 1 | -15.52% |
| 2004 | 12 | 17 | 10 | 1 | -18.37% |
| 2005 | 13 | 15 | 5 | 1 | -15.00% |
| 2006 | 12 | 28 | 9 | 4 | 55.88% |
| 2007 | 10 | 45 | 12 | 1 | 28.30% |
| 2008 | 16 | 40 | 20 | 3 | 16.18% |
| 2009 | 31 | 52 | 14 | 0 | 22.78% |
| 2010 | 14 | 64 | 18 | 2 | 1.03% |
| 2011 | 22 | 45 | 11 | 0 | -20.41% |
| 2012 | 16 | 40 | 18 | 1 | -3.85% |
| 2013 | 11 | 40 | 16 | 4 | -5.33% |
| 2014 | 21 | 43 | 24 | 5 | 30.99% |
| 2015 | 16 | 66 | 23 | 6 | 19.35% |
| 2016 | 20 | 65 | 36 | 13 | 18.92% |
| 2017 | 25 | 138 | 34 | 14 | 58.33% |
Canadian Institutions
Canadian institutions account for less than 1% of the total patented inventions filed by institutions globally.
284 Canadian institutions filed 618 patented inventions.
Patent Filing Trend (1998 – 2017) | Publication Year | CIPO | USPTO | WIPO (PCT) | Others |
| 1998 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 1999 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2000 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2001 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| 2002 | 15 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| 2003 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 2004 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| 2005 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2006 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| 2007 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 1 |
| 2008 | 13 | 3 | 15 | 2 |
| 2009 | 12 | 10 | 13 | 0 |
| 2010 | 6 | 12 | 10 | 2 |
| 2011 | 12 | 14 | 9 | 1 |
| 2012 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 2 |
| 2013 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 1 |
| 2014 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 3 |
| 2015 | 13 | 18 | 17 | 2 |
| 2016 | 19 | 19 | 30 | 1 |
| 2017 | 20 | 53 | 33 | 7 |
Patent Filing Trend (1998 – 2017) - Annual Growth Rate | Publication Year | Annual Growth Rate |
| 1998 | - |
| 1999 | -50% |
| 2000 | -67% |
| 2001 | 500% |
| 2002 | 100% |
| 2003 | -38% |
| 2004 | 27% |
| 2005 | -53% |
| 2006 | 78% |
| 2007 | 94% |
| 2008 | 6% |
| 2009 | 6% |
| 2010 | -14% |
| 2011 | 20% |
| 2012 | 8% |
| 2013 | -26% |
| 2014 | 38% |
| 2015 | 25% |
| 2016 | 38% |
| 2017 | 61% |
Relative Specialization Index (RSI)
Canadian researchers and institutions are both specialized in the field of AI, although their specialization has decreased over the past decade.
Researcher’s Country of Origin | Publication Year | 1998-2007 | 2008-2017 |
| Republic of Korea | -0.56 | -0.44 |
| Germany | -0.06 | -0.27 |
| Japan | -0.07 | -0.18 |
| United Kingdom | -0.14 | -0.03 |
| Australia | 0.12 | 0.22 |
| Canada | 0.34 | 0.30 |
| United States | 0.40 | 0.35 |
Institution’s Country of Origin | Publication Year | 1998-2007 | 2008-2017 |
| Republic of Korea | -0.21 | -0.26 |
| Germany | 0.00 | -0.24 |
| United Kingdom | -0.08 | -0.13 |
| Japan | 0.62 | 0.11 |
| Canada | 0.26 | 0.22 |
| Australia | 0.31 | 0.22 |
| United States | 0.38 | 0.34 |
Relative Specialization by AI Applications
Canadian researchers fare well in various applications of AI against American researchers who are considered to be prolific filers in AI.
Relative Specialization by AI Applications | AI Application | Canada | United States |
| Distributed Artificial Intelligence | -0.55 | -0.65 |
| Planning and Scheduling | -0.17 | -0.28 |
| Control Methods | -0.02 | 0.12 |
| Speech Processing | 0.09 | -0.06 |
| Predictive Analytics | 0.08 | 0.32 |
| Robotics | 0.42 | 0.34 |
| Knowledge Representation and Reasoning | 0.48 | 0.29 |
| Computer Vision | 0.43 | 1.72 |
| Natural Language Processing | 1.32 | 2.41 |
Geographical Clusters of Activity
Interestingly, most of the prominent Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) are specialized in different application fields of AI.
Patented Inventions / GDP | Province | Patented Inventions / GDP |
| Northwest Territories | 0 |
| Nunavut | 0 |
| Alberta | 1.68208E-10 |
| Yukon | 0 |
| Saskatchewan | 1.48738E-10 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 1.20333E-10 |
| Ontario | 3.71479E-10 |
| British Columbia | 3.63912E-10 |
| Manitoba | 5.50297E-11 |
| Quebec | 2.03698E-10 |
| New Brunswick | 1.62311E-10 |
| Nova Scotia | 1.35275E-10 |
| Prince Edward Island | 1.4298E-10 |
# of Institutions | CMA | # of Institutions |
| Calgary | 19 |
| Edmonton | 4 |
| Guelph | 2 |
| Halifax | 5 |
| Hamilton | 4 |
| Kingston | 3 |
| Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo | 20 |
| Lethbridge | 1 |
| London | 2 |
| Moncton | 1 |
| Montréal | 42 |
| Oshawa | 2 |
| Ottawa-Gatineau | 30 |
| Québec | 4 |
| Regina | 1 |
| Saskatoon | 4 |
| Sherbrooke' | 1 |
| St. Catharines-Niagara | 1 |
| St. John's | 1 |
| Toronto | 78 |
| Trois-Rivières | 2 |
| Vancouver | 30 |
| Victoria | 4 |
| Winnipeg | 3 |
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2020
Aussi offert en français sous le titre Traitement de l’intelligence artificielle : aperçu du paysage canadien des brevets.
