Saudi Arabia was granted twice as many patents in 2017 as the rest of the Arab World combined, according to new figures from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
According to Statnano, which publishes a report on the status of nanoscience, technology and innovation at the beginning of each ear, Saudi Arabia was granted 664 patents in 2017, compared to 517 in 2016 and 409 in 2015.
The figure puts Saudi Arabia in 23rd place of 92 countries with patents granted by the USPTO.
This year, the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) ranked seventh of 10 universities in terms of patents granted.
“The university achieved 183 patents in 2017, surpassing Johns Hopkins University, Harvard College and California Institute of Technology,” said Dr Khaled bin Saleh Al Sultan, president of the Dhahran-based university. “The university has been granted more than 800 patents so far, and this number is over 60% of the total number of patents registered by all Arab countries’ universities, which number about 300.”
Additionally, Saudi Aramco – which was granted 233 new patents in 2017 – secured more than two-thirds of the total number of patents in 2017, up from 175 in 2016.
For the first time, Saudi Arabia also claimed a spot among “top ten countries in nanotechnology patents in 2017”, according to a StatNano report last month.
“The reason is the growth of 128 percent in the number of nanotechnology published patent applications of this country in 2017,” the report noted.
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