FLNG innovation: discover development hotspots with patent landscaping
Richard H. BaddeleyWatermark, 362 Rokeby Road, Subiaco, WA 6008, Australia. Email: r.baddeley@watermark.com.au
The APPEA Journal 57(2) 585-588 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ16046
Accepted: 9 March 2017 Published: 29 May 2017
Abstract
Innovation and corresponding patent activity in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) production field grew strongly over the period 1997–2016, reaching a peak in 2013–14. A patent landscaping analysis enabled a preliminary investigation of innovation foci, by technical subject matter, and those companies driving such innovation. Floating LNG (FLNG) innovation so far forms a small proportion of this activity, yet shipbuilding companies like Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries are relatively dominant innovators, as measured by patent intensity, likely collaborating – for FLNG projects – with operating companies like Shell and ExxonMobil which are also significant, although statistically less dominant, innovators in the LNG production field. Patent landscaping analysis also showed that key foci for innovation appear in the fields of LNG storage tanks, carbon dioxide and boil-off gas management. Further investigations would provide more specific information about innovation occurring in these fields of LNG production.
Keywords: floating LNG, intellectual property, liquefied natural gas, patent landscaping analysis.
Richard H. Baddeley has degrees in chemical engineering and law and is a patent attorney specialising in the field of chemical engineering. Richard has been a Principal of the firm Watermark since 1993. He represents a range of clients from the resources, petrochemical and automotive industries to IT located in Australia, India and overseas. Richard specialises in patent drafting, prosecution, advice and enforcement across these industries and he has experience of intellectual property litigation in Australia and India. His interests also include the commercial resolution of disputes and issues associated with intellectual asset management. In particular, he advises on strategies to optimise protection and commercialisation of valuable intellectual property within the objectives and budgets available to his clients. Richard is a regular presenter on topics in the field of intellectual asset management. |
References
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