33% Increase in Design Applications for Pet and Plant Products

Case of Smart Plant Pot Design Registration. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Last year, design applications for pet and companion plant-related products increased by 33% compared to the previous year. This appears to be influenced by the growing demand from consumers seeking emotional comfort through pets and plants amid the approaching era of 15 million pet owners and the impact of COVID-19.

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office on the 5th, design applications related to pets and companion plants recorded an average annual growth rate of 21% from 2019 to 2020. In particular, last year, the increase rate of related design applications exceeded 30% due to the impact of COVID-19.

Compared to 2019, design applications related to pets increased from 712 to 953 cases (34%), and those related to companion plants rose from 288 to 374 cases (30%).

Recently, as the culture of treating pets and companion plants like family members has become established, related products and designs are showing a trend of diversification.

For example, in the case of pets, various products have been released for lifecycle management from adoption to nurturing and aftercare, ranging from incubators to urns, and related design applications have also increased.

Among these, design applications for wearable items such as pet clothes and accessories increased by 61% last year compared to 2019.

Among wearable items, the expanded use of identification tags stands out. Identification tags worn by pets have become essential items at the adoption stage due to the mandatory implementation of the animal registration system. Identification tags are being applied for in forms such as embedded microchips containing the pet’s name and owner information, or smart collars that measure location, biometric data, and emotions.

During the nurturing stage, design applications for products related to health management are prominent. In fact, caregiving products including medical devices such as wheelchairs, braces, and medication dispensers more than doubled last year compared to the previous year.

Additionally, urns, coffins, and burial clothes for funeral products also increased by about 55% last year compared to the previous year, indicating a growing demand for aftercare management of pets.

More people are recognizing plants as objects of emotional connection, similar to pets. Along with this, design applications for related products are also showing a significant increase.

For example, pots showed a 36% increase last year compared to the previous year, and design applications have diversified into smart pots that inform about plant health and control growth environments, modular pots, vertical garden pots, and hybrid pots equipped with lighting or air purification functions.

In addition, plant cultivation devices that automatically adjust the growing environment related to companion plants also increased by about 44% compared to the previous year. These cultivation devices combine lighting, watering, and temperature/humidity control parts, and design applications have increased mainly for types that allow easy indoor plant cultivation by placing seed balls made of seeds, soil, and fertilizer in containers or through hydroponics.

Lee Jong-seon, an examiner at the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said, “Demand for pet and companion plant products is expected to continue even after COVID-19,” adding, “Based on this, it is anticipated that the range of participants will diversify with the expansion of large corporations’ entry, and design applications for pet and companion plant products incorporating new technologies will also increase.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.