07/03/2025
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has recently released their latest technology trends report. While previous reports have focused on Artificial Intelligence and Assistive Technology, this edition takes on the task of delving into the future of transportation.
This focus is motivated by WIPO’s appreciation that “The transportation sector is at the forefront of technological transformation, driven by the dual megatrends of Sustainability and Digitalization. These are together reshaping how transportation systems operate across the four principal transport modalities – Land, Sea, Air, and Space. By analysing patent data and other data sources like scientific research, market reports and governmental strategies, we have identified the key technology trends that align with the two megatrends.”
As can be seen from the below graph, WIPO’s analysis reveals that the number of inventions / patent families being pursued in “future of transportation” technologies has increased by nearly 3x compared to the increase for technologies classified as “traditional transportation” since the turn of the millennium.
Absolute and indexed growth of traditional and future transportation technologies by earliest publication year. Source: : WIPO (2025). WIPO Technology Trends Report 2025: The Future of Transportation. Geneva: World Intellectual Property Organization. DOI:10.34667/tind.57963
This is perhaps unsurprising to the extent that the number of inventions in what we would now call the future of transportation would naturally be much lower 25 years ago, and indeed any of these early patent applications would have expired by now. However, it is interesting to see that over the last five or so years the indexed/normalised number of patent families for traditional transportation has decreased (despite overall growth across all technology areas) in the face of highly accelerated growth for those future of transportation technologies.
Part of this growth can be explained by the increasing levels of fragmentation in the land, air, and space transport modalities over the last five to ten years, whereby the past dominance of the top patent owners is being chipped away by a surge of new players in these markets stimulating rapid innovation. However, the top patent owners will continue to play a key role and have been continuing to increase their portfolio sizes as can be seen from the below graph. By contrast, the numbers show that the sea transport modality is becoming increasingly consolidated with fewer new players entering the market – it will be interesting to see if this trend continues.
Technology trajectories of the four transport modalities over 2010–2023. Source: : WIPO (2025). WIPO Technology Trends Report 2025: The Future of Transportation. Geneva: World Intellectual Property Organization. DOI:10.34667/tind.57963
As implied by the above graph, level of patent filing is highest for the land transport modality. While this is what we would anticipate at this stage, it is noteworthy to see that land transport still dominates to such an extent that it is 3.5x larger than the number for sea, air, and space transport modalities combined.
Digging into each of the transport modalities, the report classifies the four primary technology trend clusters within transportation as Sustainable Propulsion, Automation and Circularity, Communication and Security, and Human–Machine Interfaces. These technology trend clusters represent the increasing reliance on digital technologies and the push for sustainability to address environmental challenges.
The following chart shows that sustainable propulsion technologies remain the key focus for land and sea transport, but that the further away you get from the surface of the Earth (indeed the harder it gets to provide sustainable propulsion), the more important communication and security technologies become as the focus turns to those technologies that enable secure and reliable communication between vehicles, infrastructure and users.
Patent share of the four technology trends in each transport modality over 2000-2023. Source: : WIPO (2025). WIPO Technology Trends Report 2025: The Future of Transportation. Geneva: World Intellectual Property Organization. DOI:10.34667/tind.57963
In subsequent blogs, we will explore insights into the space sector, some of these patent results in further detail, as well as considering the crucial role that trade marks and designs play in supporting the transformation and adoption of new technologies.
At Reddie & Grose we work with clients at the forefront of innovation – if you would like assistance with your IP strategy then please get in contact. We have a multidisciplinary team of attorneys focused on Future Transport that can assist you with invention harvesting and patent filings across this area.
This article is for general information only. Its content is not a statement of the law on any subject and does not constitute advice. Please contact Reddie & Grose LLP for advice before taking any action in reliance on it.
