Saudi Arabia granted 664 patents in 2017

Saudi Arabia was granted 664 patents in 2017 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), double the number of all Arab countries combined, the Center for International Communication said in a statement on Monday.

The Kingdom was ranked 23rd among 92 countries in the latest list, according to a StatNano report published last month. In 2015 and 2016, it was granted 517 and 409 patents, respectively.

Majority of these patented inventions last year were in the scientific field, the statement said.

According to the report, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) ranked seventh among the top 10 universities in the world in terms of the number of patents granted by the US Patent Office.

The university achieved 183 patents in 2017, surpassing Johns Hopkins University, Harvard College and California Institute of Technology, said Dr Khaled bin Saleh Al Sultan, president of the Dhahran-based university.

The university has been granted more than 800 patents so far, which is over 60 percent of the total number of patents registered by all universities in Arab countries.

Separately, Saudi Aramco was granted 233 new patents last year compared to 175 patents in 2016.

Aramco’s R&D footprint spans three continents and has 11 international satellite centres and technology offices spread across the world, the statement said.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia was also among the top ten countries in nanotechnology patents in 2017, following a 128 percent growth in the number of nanotechnology published patent applications.