Australia 2024 Annual Intellectual Property Report

Today, IP Australia released its 2024 Annual Report, which shows that despite last year’s weak global economy, Australian businesses have shown strong resilience in generating new intellectual property.

IP applications for all registered rights in Australia increased in 2023. This includes trademarks, which are registered when businesses launch new products and services, as well as design rights and patents, which reflect scientific and technological advances in the economy, including:

• Trademark applications by Australians rose 9.8%, approaching the record levels set in 2020 and 2021. Total trademark applications rose 7.2% to 84,476.
• The overall number of design patent applications rose by 11.5% to a record high of 8,776.
• The strongest growth area among invention patent applicants is energy devices such as electric motors, generators, batteries and solar panels.
• China’s design applications for energy equipment doubled in 2023. Semiconductors are an essential component of digital devices and a key area of continued growth for new patents from Chinese and Australian innovators.
• The annual report also highlights Australia’s emergence as a key target market for clean energy technologies, with Australia being the second fastest growing target market for patents in this field among 19 major economies.

In addition, the annual report highlights the growing contribution of SMEs to Australian innovation and the need for strong collaboration and knowledge exchange between universities, established businesses and start-ups. It also details how recent domestic employment of PhD graduates supports the innovation activities of Australian start-ups and how intellectual property is an important driver of business growth for SMEs. Over the past two decades, the number of Australian SMEs with patents has grown five times faster than other types of businesses. Australian SMEs that have filed intellectual property applications are 16% more likely to experience employment growth than their counterparts without recent applications.