Japan leads battery tech race with a third of global patent filings

Panasonic and Toyota fuel growth as Samsung and LG put South Korea in second place

20200922N Panasonic Tesla battery

Panasonic, a battery partner to U.S. electric-car builder Tesla, ranked second in international patent filings for batteries for 2000 to 2018. (Photo by Kentaro Iwamoto)

SHIORI GOSO, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- Japan remains a powerhouse of battery innovation, with Panasonic, Toyota Motor and other names applying for more than one-third of international patents in this field, a new report shows.

Japan produced international patent applications published in 2018 for 2,339 inventions related to batteries, almost twice as much as second-ranked South Korea's 1,230, according to a joint study out Tuesday from the European Patent Office and the International Energy Agency. The study measured patent applications filed in two or more countries.

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