29th Feb 2024
We’re joined by our Cleantech & Energy team to talk all about innovations in wind energy. Wind technology is critical to the energy transition and achieving energy security. The team will assess the state of the industry and review what we can learn from published patent filings.
21st Feb 2024
The week of 18-24 February is Engineers Week in the United States – one of the largest STEM events in the United States. Although I am writing this article from the UK, the creativity and hard work of engineers has an effect which extends far beyond the borders of any one country and is something to be celebrated!
21st Dec 2023
In an era defined by the urgent need for global sustainability, nuclear is one of the many technologies that must play its part. Throughout this series, we have looked at the critical role of intellectual property in driving innovation and economic progress, while shaping the course of the nuclear industry’s development. Published patent filings serve as a useful proxy for trends in innovation and investment. So, it’s certainly encouraging to see filings in the past decade beginning to return to levels last season in the 50s and 60s.
19th Dec 2023
This is the final article of our mini-series ‘Powering Tomorrow: Intellectual Property & Nuclear in the Age of Net Zero’ where our specialists delve into the role of intellectual property within the nuclear sphere, looking at developments in traditional nuclear power as the industry strives to adapt to the sustainable energy landscape of the future, and at […]
27th Nov 2023
Companies active in nuclear fission-based power have historically filed relatively few patents. It is likely that this was because problems encountered in their nuclear power plant development were specific to individual power plants. Why protect the resulting inventions if they were unlikely to be used elsewhere? However, the development of modular reactors such as small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced modular reactors (AMRs) could change this mindset. Suddenly, the product becomes scalable, capable of being built in factories and exported around the world. There is more potential to licence technology, or sell modular units, and therefore patents for this technology may become more valuable.
22nd Nov 2023
Nuclear fusion is regularly touted as the holy grail of sustainable clean energy: it produces no carbon emissions, uses readily available fuel, and produces vastly more energy per unit of fuel. However, for many decades fusion-powered technology has been a ruinously expensive pipe-dream confined to multi-governmental research projects or the realm of science fiction. The nuclear fusion research community have been proclaiming that commercial fusion reactions are “30 years away”, while resetting their estimate every 5 years or so.
21st Nov 2023
The pursuit of a sustainable future has never been more urgent, and the nuclear industry is emerging as a linchpin in the global effort to achieve net-zero emissions. Over the coming weeks we will delve into the role of intellectual property within the nuclear sphere, looking at developments in traditional nuclear power as the industry strives to adapt to the sustainable energy landscape of the future, and at the potentially revolutionary impact of nuclear fusion.
7th Nov 2023
With the energy industry refocusing toward greener, more sustainable methods of fuelling the nation, increased attention is being placed on reassessing existing assets in the context of a net-zero future. The extraction of oil and gas cannot be phased out overnight, and will continue to play a prominent role in the UK’s energy mix while work persists to replace its influence with cheaper, more efficient forms of energy production that are less environmentally invasive.