Supersonic trains, drones that increase road safety, advanced sustainable fuels, smart roads. Thanks to innovation, mobility is advancing at a rapid pace, sometimes even ahead of regulation, in terms of digitalization and sustainability. However, not all ideas are properly protected. Recorded 177 requests for Spain industrial patents in 2021, a figure representing 0.14% of the 126,000 registrations made worldwide. It surpasses only Portugal (13 applications) and Greece (10 patents) in Europe, while in other countries such as Germany it exceeds 8,000. “Spain is a country with special talents, but we let it be stolen because we don’t have the ability to sense that it is necessary to protect it,” said Isabel Marco, head of innovation projects at consulting firm PONS IP. The architects of the “Technological Mobility Map 2023” report, with the support of PONS Mobility, the Madrid IPR Helpdesk and the Community of Madrid.
In the race for technological dominance, China leads the ranking with 68.97% of all industrial patents, followed by Japan (7.52%) and the United States (4.63%). Considering that Europe continues to be the leader in R&D investments in the automotive sector with 62.6 billion Euros, these are surprising figures. An example of the low number of patents in Spain is the supersonic train company Zeleros Hyperloop. “We currently have 7 patents, 2 of which are in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Valencia, and the rest are ours. Four of them have been granted and the rest are pending,” said Luz Smith Rodríguez, the firm’s Director of Standards and Regulations.
These figures result from ignoring the benefits associated with the protection provided by patents and the lack of priority that companies see in industrial property. At the local level, María José de Concepción, director of patents and technological information at the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM), assures that “There is no industrial intellectual property culture in Spain”. An isolated example of the mobility sector. The automotive sector is the third industry sector that allocates the highest percentage to innovation.” in 2021 The top ten automotive companies in Spain have a 6.5% share Among all the innovations pioneered by Honda and Toyota. “Industrial property cannot be something in addition to innovation, it must be an intrinsic property,” he said.
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And more in an industry where innovation is revolutionizing the entire industry. While many of the patents relate to the use of green hydrogen, applications are also being received for autonomous cars, shared or subscription vehicles, or electric cars. “Cars are integrating software, and intellectual property is looking at how to protect it,” said Luis Ignacio de Vicente, strategic advisor to PONS IP. For example, the industry has already started to benefit from technologies such as LIDAR, which continues to develop the autonomous car and also determines the position of objects through sensors. Creating “patent pools” to group license payments Number of connected vehicles with 5G, bluetooth and other technologies. “There have already been lawsuits filed by some patent holders in Europe because vehicle manufacturers don’t pay for patents,” De Vicente said.
What is clear is data will be the foundation of transportation. “A lot of work from today into the future will be generated from mobility data,” said Rocío Báguena, director of the transport studies and technologies division of the General Secretariat for Transport and Mobility. And if Spain plays its cards well, it could position itself further on the list of the most innovative countries in this industry. The country starts off on a good footing: Spanish companies specializing in rolling stock are known for various projects in the international rail sector, particularly those related to high-speed commitments and the production of sustainable fuels for all modes of transport.
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The only negative point about the electric vehicle still remains. “There is room for improvement in the deployment of electric vehicle infrastructure,” Báguena complained. At the end of 2022, only 21% of public charging infrastructure corresponded to charging with power greater than 22 kWsomething that assumes minimum charge times are three hours, while the rest are at low power. “We don’t have enough technology in terms of batteries and infrastructure to have 10 million electric vehicles,” de Vicente said.
Meanwhile, mobility will have to face other challengessuch as the integration of different information sources in vehicles, lithium batteries or transportation in urban environment. Ana Gómez Arche, CEO of PONS Mobility, asks for some patience to see the results: “New technologies are advancing a little faster than regulations,” said.