New energy is one of the most important of the ten categories. A significant increase in energy production from renewable sources is a key prerequisite for achieving the Paris climate goals.

A total of 13 green technologies are included in this category. Classical renewables such as wind power and photovoltaics dominate, but technologies such as hydropower and biomass/biogas are also important. In accordance with the EU taxonomy, more efficient gas-fired power plants and nuclear fusion, which has been in development for a long time, are also included. However, these two technologies play a minor role in terms of patent numbers.

With more than 300 world class patents, the US company General Electric (GE) is the top-ranked company in the new energy sector. Most of GE’s world class patents relate to efficient gas-fired power plants and wind power technologies. Chinese utility State Grid of China follows in second place with nearly 200 world class patents. Vestas Wind Systems and Siemens Energy also have strong wind power portfolios with many world class patents and are ranked third and fourth.

This category includes the various energy storage technologies. Battery technologies are by far the largest category. In addition to conventional lithium batteries, next-generation batteries are also included. There are also other types of storage, such as thermal storage, pumped storage and capacitors.

The leading companies in these technologies are fairly broadly positioned technologically, but most have a strong base in battery technologies. Battery manufacturers, automotive manufacturers and suppliers, and electronics groups dominate the top 20, with LG Chem, one of the main battery manufacturers for the automotive industry, at the top.

Lithium batteries are a very important area within energy storage technologies. Much of the world class activity of the leading battery manufacturers is in this technology. Car manufacturers are also pushing lithium batteries. In addition to lithium batteries, there is significant activity in solid-state batteries at LG Chem and Toyota.

The hydrogen economy category includes all technologies that cover the value chain around green or blue hydrogen and fuel cells.
Hydrogen is expected to play an important role in the decarbonisation of the economy in the coming years due to its wide range of applications. For example, hydrogen can be used to power electric motors through fuel cells, to produce climate-friendly fuels, to store energy, to heat homes or to produce green steel. The main barriers to the use of hydrogen have been its costly production and the lack of infrastructure.
Research into the hydrogen economy has so far been dominated by major car manufacturers and suppliers. Toyota leads the way with more than 280 world class patents. The Japanese carmaker has been researching hydrogen technologies for many years and has adopted a dual strategy of developing and producing both battery-powered and hydrogen-powered cars. Hyundai is a distant second with 100 world class patents.
Although the automotive industry clearly dominates hydrogen research, the use of hydrogen in the mobility sector is controversial. A common criticism of hydrogen cars is that the use of pure battery electric cars is more efficient because the electricity can be used directly and does not have to be converted into hydrogen at great expense. On the other hand, there is no doubt that hydrogen has great potential in transport segments that cannot be electrified, or can only be electrified at high cost. These include trucks, ships, trains and aircrafts.

The new mobility field primarily includes electric vehicles and fuel cell/hydrogen vehicles as well as closely related technologies such as batteries for mobility applications, battery charging stations or hydrogen tanks and filling stations. In addition, all activities related to connected transport and autonomous driving are included.
With a strong focus on electric cars, batteries and fuel cells, car manufacturers dominate the new mobility research landscape. Eight car manufacturers alone are in the top 20, plus three automotive suppliers. The ranking is led by Toyota and Ford.
Connected cars, smart cities and autonomous driving are also playing an increasingly important role in the decarbonisation of the transport sector. In the future, the use of these technologies should help to optimise traffic flows and reduce the number of accidents, thereby also reducing energy consumption. While the major car companies are also active in these areas, they are facing increasing competition from electronics and IT companies such as Samsung, Qualcomm, LG Electronics, Intel or Alphabet, all of which are prominently represented in the top 20.

Even if the number of electric cars on the road continues to grow, internal combustion engines will continue to play an important role in the vehicle fleet for a long time to come. Traditional propulsion technologies will also remain important, especially for freight, shipping and aviation, where electrification is much more difficult for technical reasons. Therefore, in addition to technologies for new green mobility, transitional technologies are also important to ensure low-emission car, ship, rail and air transport. Examples include hybrid vehicles or more efficient aircraft turbines.

As expected, car manufacturers and suppliers dominate the field of efficient mobility. Ford and Toyota have the most world class patents and there are several other car manufacturers in the top 20.

Aircraft suppliers also play an important role. General Electric, Raytheon and Rolls Royce are three companies in the top 10 that are active in developing more efficient aircraft turbines.

More efficient production technologies in the large, energy-intensive metals and chemicals industries, as well as in agriculture are key technologies in the efficient production category. 3D printing, for example, is important for climate protection because it has potential to make industrial processes more efficient, especially in terms of resources, by reducing waste and scrap. Downstream, this will lead to savings in transport. Smart connected manufacturing is expected to be more resource efficient with predictive maintenance systems such as monitoring, data collection and image analysis, fault diagnosis and connected production control.

In the area of efficient production, General Electric leads with 480 world class patents, followed by robotics manufacturer Fanuc and technology company Alphabet. Companies from a wide range of industries follow in the other places. Two aerospace companies, Raytheon and Boeing, are well represented, thanks in part to their many patents in the field of 3D printing. China Petrochemical, the world’s largest oil refining, gas and petrochemicals conglomerate, ranks fifth. US agricultural giant Deere is also in the top 10, while German industrial conglomerate Siemens is the top European company in 8th place.

Energy efficiency technologies aim to minimise energy use. Of high importance are technologies to reduce the energy consumption of ICT networks. Also important are automated warehousing and logistics solutions as well as intelligent power grids (smart grids), which aim to achieve the highest possible utilisation of the existing infrastructure via grid control.
Research on energy-efficient systems is dominated by the major mobile phone manufacturers and suppliers. The US chip company Qualcomm, the leading manufacturer of baseband processors for mobile phones, is in third place and the top 11 also includes all the major mobile phone manufacturers with Samsung, Apple, Huawei, BBK and Xiaomi.
However, the US technology company Amazon tops the list due to its extensive research into automated warehousing and urban logistics. In contrast, the leading research company in the smart grid sector is General Electric (12th overall). The first European company to appear is network equipment supplier Ericsson in 17th place.

The category energy efficient devices includes technologies that help to reduce the energy consumption of devices. Important research foci within this area are efficient lighting technologies, efficient devices in home and office environments and energy efficient ICT and computer hardware (e.g. efficient server farms).

Due to the importance of efficient lighting and energy saving devices such as mobile phones, electrical manufacturers are particularly active in this green technology category. At the forefront of research activities are the electronics manufacturers Midea Group and Samsung.

US chipmaker Intel also holds many relevant world class patents, particularly in the area of efficient ICT and computer hardware. Leading US technology companies Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft are also in the top 20. The first European company in the ranking is the German chip manufacturer Infineon in 13th place.

Climate change will continue to progress even if the climate protection goals set are achieved. Mitigating the effects of climate change is therefore an important technological challenge. This area of technology includes warning systems for extreme weather events, water desalination technologies and innovative insulation materials. Medical issues such as vaccines against emerging diseases are also relevant.

Compared to the other nine technology fields, this field combines very heterogeneous technologies. However, in terms of research activity, the top 5 are dominated by companies that are all at least partly active in the agricultural sector. The German chemical company Bayer is in first place, followed by BASF and the US agricultural equipment company Deere in second and the US seed company Corteva in fifth. Only the Japanese conglomerate Panasonic breaks into this phalanx, sharing second place.

In general, the patenting activity of companies in this technology sector is somewhat lower than in the other green categories. The active companies are generally not specialised in these technologies. Exceptions to this rule are companies specialising in agriculture, such as Deere, Bayer and Corteva.

Technologies that support sustainable behaviour, consumption and use patterns and the circular economy can also make a significant contribution to tackling the climate crisis. While some elements of the circular economy, such as demand and consumption reduction, are already included in other technology areas, such as energy efficient devices, the focus here is on the recycling of (non-renewable) raw materials, materials and products. This includes the recycling of batteries and fuel cells, two technologies that will become increasingly important in the future. Drinking water treatment and new types of polymers also play an important role in sustainable consumables and recycling.

The German chemical company BASF and the Japanese cement manufacturer Taiheiyo Cement lead the ranking of the top research companies in the field of sustainable consumables and recycling. In addition to BASF, the top 20 also includes several other chemical companies, such as LG Chem, Evonik and DSM, all of which hold numerous world-class patents in the field of bio(degradable) polymers. A consumer goods company, Procter & Gambler, is also in the top 10, thanks to numerous patents in the field of recycling.

The previous rankings have shown that companies from a wide range of industries play a central role in green technologies. There are many electrical engineering and technology companies in the top 100, but also many car manufacturers and chemical companies. There are renewable energy companies with many world class patents, such as wind turbine manufacturer Vestas, but also some big oil companies that are increasingly diversifying into green technologies.

Investing in oil/gas companies or even traditional car manufacturers is often controversial. Many investors criticise the “green washing” of these companies, i.e. the fact that they promote a “green” image through PR measures, but in reality are not sufficiently committed to climate protection. On the other hand, some argue that the practice of “divestment” from companies with high CO2 emissions is less effective, and instead advocate that large investors exert more influence on these companies to push for greener corporate policies.

Regardless of who is right in this debate, it is of course an interesting question as to which companies are focusing their research on green technologies and at the same time have the best technology portfolios. Therefore, in addition to the previous evaluations, we have created a ranking taking into account only those companies for which patents in green technologies account for more than half of the total patent portfolio. To calculate this “green share”, all patents were taken into account, not just world-class patents, as these provide a better overview of the companies’ overall research activities.

In this ranking of the best green companies, Chinese railway manufacturer CRRC (922 world class patents) tops the list, followed by South Korean battery manufacturer LG Chem. Siemens Energy (9th) and Vestas (11th) are the best European companies.

The previous rankings of the individual technology sectors have shown that many companies are listed in several rankings and have correspondingly broad technology portfolios. In fact, 20 of the top 100 companies have world class patents in more than 50 green technologies.
Even more telling is the number of technology sectors in which companies are active. In 2022, more than half of the top 1000 companies were active in five or more technology sectors, and 64 companies were active in all ten technology sectors. It should be noted that this study focuses on world class patents. The overall activities of the companies are likely to be much broader when all patent activities are included.
This chart shows the technological breadth of the top 30 companies, sorted by the number of active technologies as measured by world class patents. In addition, the technologies are colour-coded according to the respective technology sectors. Panasonic is particularly broadly positioned technologically, with world class patents in 72 green technologies, followed by Toshiba (70) and Hitachi (67).

The top 100 overall green technology rankings are dominated by large international companies. These companies have the financial and technical resources to be active in many green technologies. For investors, however, it is not just the big names that are of interest, but also those companies that are both very dynamic in terms of research and improving the quality of their research. These companies will be tomorrow’s winners.

To identify these companies, we have developed the new Econsight Innovation Dynamics Indicator. The indicator is based on the dynamics of research activity and quality over the last three years. The best companies receive the maximum score of 100. In addition to the most dynamic large companies, the Innovation Dynamics Indicator also includes emerging start-ups and innovative hidden champions that are characterised by a combination of high research dynamics and increasing research quality.

Several companies scored the maximum 100 points in the Innovation Dynamics ranking, including emerging US electric car maker Rivian Automotive, established consumer goods company Procter & Gamble, China’s Haier Smart Home and US bank Wells Fargo. This heterogeneous mix of companies from a wide range of industries continues in the following places. The dynamism and increasing quality of these companies’ research activities should enable them to significantly expand their market position in green technologies in the future. This makes them particularly attractive investment targets.

The table shows the top 50 universities and research institutes in green technologies by world-class patents.

It has to be noted that a university or research institution can only be identified as associated with a patent if it is named as (co-)owner on the patent. However, patenting strategies can differ significantly between research institutions and universities. In China, in particular, it is common and politically desirable for universities to file as many patents as possible. US universities also tend to patent inventions and license them to companies. While some European research institutions and universities have followed this trend and set up technology transfer offices to manage and license patents, there are still many universities and research institutions in many countries that do not patent much.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences leads the ranking with more than 1500 world class patents, followed by Tsinghua University. The first non-Chinese research institution is the University of California in 7th place with 132 world class patents. US research institutions are also strongly represented in the top 50. The French research institution Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique is the best European research institution (14th place, 63 world class patents), just ahead of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft in 15th place. The only European universities in the top 50 are the Swiss EPFL (41st, 22 world class patents) and ETH (47th, 16 world class patents).