A few days ago, as one of the reference indicators of the scientific and technological innovation strength of global enterprises, the American commercial patent database (IFI Claims) released the data of the world's top 250 patent leaders (2022 Global 250: The World's Largest Patent Holders).
On this list, Chinese companies can be said to have performed well, with 30 companies and institutions on the list. It is worth noting that there are three Chinese companies and institutions in the top 10, including Midea Group. It is reported that Midea's ranking has surpassed that of Toyota, Mitsubishi Electromechanical, Bosch, Siemens, China's Hon Hai Precision and other global famous enterprises, and the results are very eye-catching.
At present, Midea is accelerating the construction of an intellectual property "moat" and enhancing its "global leading" strength. According to the data, in the past five years (from 2018 to 2022), Midea has invested more than 50 billion yuan in R&D, and has deployed more than 100,000 patents in 50 countries and regions around the world, becoming a "leader" in the domestic industry.
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Midea's patent holdings illustrate the strength of a "global technology enterprise".
It is reported that the 2022 Global Patent Leaders 250 list provides the cumulative overall number of global patent holdings of an entity, including patented technologies held by subsidiaries or majority equity companies of the entity. The list has important reference value for measuring the comprehensive strength of an enterprise in scientific and technological innovation.
In the list of the top 100 patent holders, Chinese enterprises and institutions performed well, and there were three Chinese enterprises and institutions in the top 10, followed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Midea Group, and China State Construction. Among them, Midea Group ranks seventh in the world and first among Chinese enterprises with 64,895 patents (as of January 3, 2023).
It is worth mentioning that the number of patent assets held by Midea is a strong interpretation of the strength of a "global technology enterprise".
According to this ranking, Midea surpasses Japan's Toyota, Mitsubishi Electric, Sony Group and other old international famous enterprises, and is also higher than Huawei, Sinopec, Gree Electric, Hon Hai Precision and other China's first-class manufacturing enterprises, with remarkable results.
According to a data provided by Midea, as of 2021, the company has deployed more than 100,000 patents in nearly 50 countries and regions around the world, and the cumulative number of patents authorized and maintained has exceeded 70,000. Among them, in 2021 alone, Midea applied for more than 10,000 patents worldwide, and the annual authorized volume has ranked first in the home appliance industry for five consecutive years. It can be said that a large number of patents reflect Midea's strength and leadership in the field of science and technology.
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Patents in the field of new technologies are "blowing out"
After more than 50 years of development, Midea has become a global technology group integrating five major sectors: smart home, industrial technology, building technology, robotics and automation, and digital innovation. Among them, the ToB business continued to grow rapidly with high quality and high quality, and the third quarter report of 2022 showed that the building technology business unit increased by 22.65% year-on-year, and the digital innovation business increased by 37.3% year-on-year.
With the diversified development of the group, the company's patents in the field of ToB are showing a trend of rapid development.
According to statistics, the Building Technology Division, the Industrial Technology Business Group and the Robotics and Automation Division have applied for a total of 20,609 patents, including 10,047 invention patents. Patent applications are filed in 32 countries or regions around the world. Among them, 10,546 valid patents have been authorized, including 3,451 invention patents, and the product technology covers multi-line, elevator, intelligent control, motor, compressor, chip, auto parts, etc.
On January 30, 2023, Midea Group (000333. SZ) replied on the investor interactive platform: The company continues to deepen the transformation of the ToB business model, based on the group's five major business segments, facing customers in the whole industry, promoting the upgrade from traditional hardware product portfolio to scenario-based solutions, further expanding the sales scale and brand power in the ToB engineering market, and optimizing and adjusting the existing customers, products and business structure to improve the overall profitability of the business value chain.
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Strong global R&D network supports Midea's "global breakthrough"
One of the important forces supporting Midea's "going global" and achieving "global breakthroughs" is scientific and technological research and development and patent support.
According to the data, in the past five years (from 2018 to 2022), Midea's cumulative investment in R&D has exceeded 50 billion yuan, and since 2020, the company's annual R&D investment has exceeded 10 billion yuan, which can be called a "big deal".
A strong global R&D "network" further helps Midea achieve "global breakthroughs". The reporter learned that at present, Midea has set up 35 R&D centers in 12 countries around the world, including China, and gradually formed a "2+4+N" global R&D network to establish R&D scale advantages. Among them, "2" refers to the global full-category innovation parks in Shunde, Guangdong and Shanghai, and "4" refers to the full-category R&D centers in the United States, Japan, Germany, and Italy, in addition to 29 single-product R&D centers around the world.
"By integrating the local resources of the R&D center, we will accelerate technology research, achieve localized development, and establish a global R&D scale advantage." The head of intellectual property of Midea Group said.
In terms of talents, at present, Midea has more than 18,000 R&D personnel, including more than 500 foreign senior experts, and has accumulated a large number of talent reserves for the research and development of core technologies.
"At present, Midea's R&D model is 'three generations', namely the development generation, the reserve generation and the research generation." According to the person in charge, through the "three generations", the value of the enterprise will be enhanced. "For example, the 'development generation' is for the development of products with a clear marketing goal, so the proportion of patents in the application of products is relatively high, and the proportion of commercialization is relatively high, while the research generation is a forward-looking research to achieve technological breakthroughs, and a certain amount of patent accumulation will be carried out."
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Source: Securities Daily