Is Europe Losing the Race?

Consider the patents scene. Analyst Cintelliq has issued a report “Inventors 2003-2005” - an analysis of inventors of organic semiconductor patents. See www.cintelliq.com for further details. One of its summary charts lists the world’s most prolific patentors by name and allegiance in the period 2003-2005. They are under the categories LED and Transistors, where the Japanese were the winners in both cases, Photovoltaics and Lasers, where the US led, Sensors, where many European and US inventors were equal with a mere two patents each, Memory cell, with the US leading and Other, with Japan in the lead. In “LED” category (essentially OLED), just one person, Shunpei Yamazaki in Japan, had 104 patents granted in that period. Europe was the loser.