Photo: Visual Capitalist

Visual Capitalist recently summarizes the 2021 WIPO data that showcases which countries were granted the most new patents, along with their sector categorizations. According to the chart, Out of 1,608,375 patent grants in 2021, 88% were issued to applicants from just 6 countries. China tops the chart with 607,758, accounting for 38%. In terms of sectors, China topped the chart in 29 out of 36 total fields including computer technology, electrical machinery, and digital communication. The United States came in second with 286,205 granted patents by origin. The U.S. also topped four fields of its own: medical technology, engines and turbines, basic communication processes, and unknown (for inventions that can’t be assigned to a specific field). Not far behind is Japan with 256,890 granted patents. It dominated the other nations in the fields of semiconductors, optics, as well as furniture and games, cementing its well-earned reputation of technological innovation.