The number of resident patent grants in South Africa has experienced a dramatic decline over recent decades. South African patent grants were down to only a quarter of their 1990s levels in the 2010s. Things have deteriorated further post pandemic, with annual direct patent grants between 2020 and 2023 down to only 10% of their annual level in the mid-1980s.
This downward trend is evident across all technology sectors. The largest number of patents by South Africans have been in civil engineering, followed by handling, furniture and transport. Overall grants have traditionally been dominated by chemistry and pharmaceuticals. I discuss the factors that have contributed to the decline in domestic patent activity in South Africa in a recent Business Day article.
Footnote
Note that the WIPO data shows a much more dramatic decline in patent grants by technology sector than in the aggregate figures, suggesting that the more disaggregated figures may not be fully representative. Unfortunately, the Companies & Intellectual Property Commission of SA (CIPC) does not publish statistics on patent grants, so we cannot readily corroborate the WIPO figures. The CIPC also did not respond to our data query. We will, however, compare WIPO data to alternative sources, including data which we will compile from individual CIPC records, in upcoming posts.
