BY DIRAMAKINI
HUAWEI'S number of 5G standard essential patents (SEPs) continue to rank No. 1 in the world, according to Clarivate, a leading global IP consultancy, and analytics firm.
Clarivate’s latest report “Demystifying the 5G standard essential patent landscape: Phase 3” conducted a systematic study on 5G patents. The report shows that Huawei still ranked No. 1 with a patent family of 6,566 and the fastest growth rate. SEPs are common in the telecommunications field. No company can avoid 5G SEPs if they want to design products that comply with 5G standards. For five straight years, Huawei has ranked No. 1 worldwide in terms of Patent Cooperation Treaty applications.
African countries are already benefiting from Huawei’s 5G patents, as several operators have already begun rolling out 5G with Huawei equipment to provide high-speed home and office broadband, as well as industry-specific solutions in mining, tourism, and other industries critical to Africa.
This dominance in 5G intellectual property could be attributed to Huawei’s active management of its intellectual property portfolio. By the end of 2021, Huawei held more than 110,000 active patents across over 45,000 patent families.
At Huawei’s Innovation and Intellectual Property Forum held on June 8th, 2022, in Shenzhen, the company highlighted several key inventions as part of its biennial "Top Ten Inventions" Awards.
Liu Hua, a World Intellectual Property Organization official, acknowledged Huawei's continued investment in innovation, saying: “We look forward to seeing Huawei continue to take part in high-level global competition and cooperation with innovation at its core.”
Huawei is also the World's 2nd Highest Investor in R&D, according to the 2021 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. As of the end of 2021, Huawei had 107,000 R&D employees and invested over 22% of its sales revenue in R&D.
"We are eager to license our patents and technologies to share our innovations with the world," said Huawei’s Chief Legal Officer, Song Liuping at the Innovation and Intellectual Property Forum.
Over the last 20 years in Africa, Huawei’s advanced patented technologies have helped connect an estimated 1 billion people. Huawei's innovative rural network solutions have brought networks to more than 10 million people who were previously not connected.
These networks are providing them with access to information-based services such as health and education. To combat climate change and its impacts, Huawei has leveraged digital technologies to provide a green, smart, and secure digital energy solution tailored for Africa, helping to reduce carbon emissions and relieve power shortages.
Yang Chen, Vice President of Huawei Southern Africa, noted that: “We have set up 6 innovation centers and hardware training centers in Sub Saharan Africa for joint innovation and skill transfer. In April, we launched the LEAP Talent Development Programmme in the region, aiming to cultivate 100,000 ICT talent within three years, to increase African youths’ innovation capacity. Technologies and Innovation capacity is Huawei’s core competencies, and We are sharing that with Africa to meet local needs and benefit African people."