Australian inventors lead world in water technology
PUBLISHED : 15 Jul 2010 12:58:00 | Kath Walters
Australian inventors are beating the world in the field of water technologies. Between 2004 and 2009 there were 1475 water technology patents registered, according to a review by patent attorney firm The Griffith Hack Group. But few get commercialised beyond our borders, the report found.
Investors tell us in repeated surveys that they are desperate for clean-tech investments. What mystifies Griffith Hack attorneys Mark Lloyd and Mary Turonek is that so little is being made of these discoveries as an export opportunity.
“The investment bank Goldman Sachs estimates that global water consumption is doubling every 20 years, which is recognised as an unsustainable rate,” the report notes. “Australian innovators are well placed to capture greater market share by developing and exporting new technology.”
Griffith Hack found 805 patents for technologies that improve water quality, a world-wide problem. Increasing water availability – by means such as desalination or condensation and rainwater harvesting – drew 458 patents, and water efficiency attracted 212 patents.
That is 37 per cent of water technology patents worldwide and, in the area of increasing water availability, our share is 50 per cent. The problem is that companies are not filing enough patents. OK, sure, we would expect a patent attorney firm to say that. They make money when patents are filed. But they do substantiate their claims with objective comparisons.
Griffith Hack points out that most companies filing water technology apply for between one and three patents. A French company, Veolia Water, was the leading applicant worldwide for water technology patents (28) between 2004 and 2009. Australian steelmaker BlueScope Steel filed eight in the comparable period.
Compare that, they suggest, to the Sydney-based hearing implant manufacturer Cochlear, which has filed more than 40 patents in the past decade, and Resmed, which treats sleep apnoea, and has filed more than 100 patents.
The problem is that single patents can be “invented around”. Multiple patents, cutely called a “patent thicket”, are much harder to challenge or invalidate.
The Griffith Hack report can be found at www.cleanip.com.au.
BRW
Kath Walters
ReporterMelbourne
Kath Walters analyses business ideas, news and trends across areas including climate change, science, health, business angels, venture capital and government policy. She covers small, medium and large businesses, public and private. In 2006, she won the Citibank Award for Excellence in Journalism (General Business). From 2001 to 2004, she edited BRW's accounting section.
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