R & D Spending – Global U.S. Ranking

Doubting Science. Why?

GLOBAL INVENTION & INNOVATION – BENCHMARKS

Patents are one way governments support invention by providing legal mechanisms for intellectual property protection. Patent documents provide detailed information that is widely used to understand invention activity.

The U.S. share of international patents declined from 15% to 10%. The same share declined from 35% to 15% for Japan and 12% to 8% for the EU-27. In contrast, China’s share of international patents increased from 16% in 2010 to 49% in 2020.
China (32%) and South Korea (27%) had the highest estimated proportion of patent applications with at least one woman inventor.

Globally and domestically, patenting activity varies by industry and by inventor demographics. Across all countries, 56% of international patents are related to
electrical and mechanical engineering, reflecting the role of these fields in global invention. These two fields of engineering represent 63% of all international patents granted to U.S. inventors in 2020. The high rates of patenting in engineering and the relatively low proportion of U.S. women with engineering degrees or working in engineering occupations are consistent with the low rates of overall patenting activities by female inventors in the United States.