Asia leads global patent applications, with Huawei top

China closes in on US, while India and South Korea also boost filings

20190318N splash photo china VR handset

A bus passenger tries out a virtual reality device to watch movies via a 5G network in China. The country has outspent the U.S. by approximately $24 billion in wireless infrastructure since 2015, according to a Deloitte report. © Getty Images

AKIHIDE ANZAI, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- International patent applications filed from Asia exceeded half the world total for the first time in 2018, thanks to significant growth from China, India and South Korea. The landmark shows that Asian companies and institutions are rapidly increasing their presence in global innovation. Huawei Technologies filed the most in the world for a single company.

The World Intellectual Property Organization published a document on Tuesday reporting a record-breaking 253,000 filings of international patent applications in 2018 globally, a 3.9% increase over 2017. Of all the applications, 50.5% came from Asia.

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