Expansion of 3D Printing Application Product Market, Patent Filings Increase by 40% Annually

Annual Patent Application Trends for 3D Printing Application Products. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Along with the expansion of the 3D printing applied products market, related patent applications are also increasing significantly.

3D printing applied products refer to customized products manufactured by applying 3D printing technology according to the shape, function, and material characteristics of an object.

For example, recently, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, the marathon world record holder, participated in the Tokyo Olympics wearing shoes made by 3D printing polyurethane material and won the gold medal. Eliud Kipchoge also stated that the shoes, made with a porous structure tailored to the shape of his feet, enhanced his performance.

Additionally, the UK restaurant ‘Food Ink’ is the world’s first to create and serve all its food using 3D printers.

As such, with the increasing cases of 3D printing technology being integrated and utilized across various fields, domestic cases of launching products incorporating 3D printing technology in multiple sectors such as traditional industries like mechanical parts, medical, and food are also on the rise.

In particular, each industry is focusing on technology development and patent competition to secure market leadership with 3D printing applied products.

For instance, according to the Korean Intellectual Property Office, domestic patent applications related to 3D printing applied products increased from 47 cases in 2013 to 254 cases in 2018, growing at an average annual rate of 40%. By detailed application fields, mechanical parts accounted for 458 cases, representing 42.0% of the total.

Other fields include medical with 247 cases (22.6%), electrical and electronics 95 cases (8.7%), consumer goods 93 cases (8.5%), automotive 82 cases (7.5%), aerospace 47 cases (4.3%), construction and architecture 29 cases (2.7%), and food 24 cases (2.2%), showing relatively high proportions in that order.

Regarding the nationality of applicants in the 3D printing applied products field, domestic applicants accounted for 457 cases (42%) and foreign applicants 634 cases (58%), with foreigners holding the majority. However, while foreign applications increased from 38 cases in 2013 to 130 cases in 2018 at an average annual growth rate of 28%, domestic applications rose from 9 cases to 124 cases in the same period, showing an average annual growth rate of 69%, indicating a potential reversal of the trend.

Among domestic applicants, small and medium-sized enterprises accounted for 144 cases (32%), universities 119 cases (26%), research institutes 92 cases (20%), individuals 70 cases (15%), and large corporations 32 cases (7%).

Based on this, the Korean Intellectual Property Office analyzes that domestic patent applications related to 3D printing applied products tend to be concentrated in SMEs, universities, and research institutes (78% of the total), and that active development of 3D printing applied technologies is underway centered on these entities.

Companies with multiple patent applications related to 3D printing applied products include government-funded research institutes such as the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (36 cases) and the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (13 cases) for domestic applicants, and multinational corporations such as HP (25 cases), NIKE (22 cases), Stratasys (20 cases), and Boeing (17 cases) for foreign applicants.

Lee Sang-ho, an examiner at the Smart Manufacturing Examination Team of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said, “3D printing enables customized, small-lot, multi-variety production based on 3D design data without separate molds, so market expansion is expected due to increased demand. This also leads to an increase in related patent applications, making it increasingly necessary for domestic companies to build patent portfolios to secure a global market lead.”

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