IBM breaks U.S. Patent record in 2016

IBM has announced that it broke the U.S. patent record with 8,088 patents granted to its inventors in 2016, marking the 24th consecutive year of innovation leadership. In India, IBM inventors contributed 658 patents to IBM’s record-breaking U.S. patent total. IBM’s 2016 patent output covers a diverse range of inventions in artificial intelligence and cognitive computing, cognitive health, cloud, cybersecurity and other strategic growth areas for the company.

IBM inventors were granted more than 22 patents per day in 2016, enabling the company to become the first to surpass 8,000 patents in a single year. IBM researchers, engineers, and designers generated more than 2,700 patents for inventions related to AI, cognitive computing and cloud computing.

“Leading the world in innovation for 24 years in a row is a result of IBM’s unmatched commitment to innovation and R&D – reflected in this year’s new U.S. patent record, breaking the 8,000 barrier for the first time,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM’s Chairman, President & CEO. “We are deeply proud of our inventors’ unique contributions to discovery, science and technology that are driving progress across business and society and opening the new era of cognitive business.”

More than 8,500 IBM inventors residing in 47 states and territories and 47 countries are responsible for IBM’s record-setting 2016 patent tally. IBM inventors based in New York received over 2,700 patents, while IBMers based in California and Texas were granted over 1,000 patents each. The United States is home to more than half of IBM's $5.4-billion annual investment in research and development. This substantial commitment to unlocking new technologies is what has long propelled IBM into new markets, allowing it to create value for clients and opportunity for its employees, including 25,000 Americans the company has pledged to hire over the next four years.

The Top Ten list of 2016 U.S. patent recipients includes:

1.    IBM – 8,088

2.    Samsung Electronics – 5,518

3.    Canon – 3,665

4.    Qualcomm – 2,897

5.    Google – 2,835

6.    Intel – 2,784

7.    LG Electronics – 2,428

8.    Microsoft – 2,398

9.    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. – 2,288

10.  Sony – 2,181

IBM inventors were awarded patents on innovations that will help advance cognitive healthcare. The IBM inventors patented more than 1,600 inventions that can help advance the field of cloud computing and also received patents for inventions expected to enable new cybersecurity solutions.