Key resources for clean energy

The EPO has today, 3 November
2022, published an initial selection of some 60 smart patent information
searches to coincide with this month’s United Nations Climate Change
Conference. With a focus on clean energy, these smart searches aim to help
innovators contribute to the decarbonisation of the global economy within the
next three decades. The launch of the clean energy
platform is accompanied by the publication of dedicated EPO webpages profiling the latest developments in green
tech.

As a world leader in supplying
technical information, the EPO is deepening its commitment to sustainability by
making specialist
know-how available to a broader audience. The ready-to-use search queries developed by EPO experts
will help accelerate the transformation of patent information into patent
knowledge by supporting researchers, entrepreneurs and decision makers in
meeting climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement, UN Sustainable
Development Goals and European Green Deal. The relevant technical information
in patent documents is often published nowhere else.

The searches on our new clean
energy platform initially cover three key areas and will be continually
updated. First, those on energy supply provide the latest insights into fields
such as offshore wind and smart solar systems. Then there are solutions for
carbon-intensive industries, including steel production and cement. Finally, the
searches on enabling technologies relate to fields including green hydrogen
production using electrolysers and the optimisation of energy storage technologies.

The smart searches are especially
suited to run on the EPO’s free to use online patent search interface:
Espacenet. This public database contains more than 140 million documents from
more than 100 intellectual property authorities around the world. Any user can
now access the results of these smart searches.

For applicants who require a fast-track
patent procedure, regardless of the technology they are developing, the EPO
offers accelerated prosecution of European patent applications.