2 Patenting scale and intensity Objective: To identify the scale of patenting activity in the food industry originating from Australia. 2.1 Patenting intensity This study identified 28,997 food-related PCT applications (inventions) worldwide; of which 704 were designated Australian because they had an Australian applicant or had an Australian inventor. Of the 704 Australian food inventions, 501 inventions (71%) listed only Australian inventors (Figure 1), which indicates that the innovative activity for these Australian food inventions took place domestically. Figure : Australian PCT food inventions by inventor allocation. Innovative activity for the other Australian food inventions did not necessarily take place in Australia — 115 (16%) listed Australian and international inventors, and the remaining 88 (13%) did not list an Australian inventor. In addition to the 704 Australian food PCTs, were 650 food inventions filed directly with IP Australia. Direct files include provisional applications, innovation applications and standard applications. There were 304 food inventions filed with IP Australia as provisional applications that went on to be filed as a PCT application; these were duplicates and therefore excluded from the dataset. The 650 food inventions filed with IP Australia less the 304 duplicates resulted in 346 direct files. The majority of Australian food inventions were filed through the PCT (Figure 2). Figure : Australian food inventions The top 20 countries filing PCT food inventions are shown in Figure 3. With 2 per cent of the global food inventions, Australia ranks 14th and is comparable with Canada and Sweden.
Figure : Relative Specialisation Index and number of food inventions, by country 4.2 Food processing industries relative specialisation The RSIs for each food class in Australia and each state and territory are reported in Table 1. The sub-industries are sorted by the RSI for Australia. All Australian states, except for Western Australia show a relative specialisation in food patenting. There are very few patents with inventors based in the Northern Territory, hence the RSI for the NT is relatively high (0.46). The RSI for the ACT (0.36) is high because of the large numbers of food inventions developed at CSIRO. New South Wales has relative specialisations in bakery, beverage and other sub-industries. Key applicants for bakery inventions in NSW are George Weston Foods Ltd (crosslinked waxy wheat starch, production of lupin extracts, production of food products having reduced fat content and low GI white bread), Serrol Ingredients Pty Ltd (leavening and emulsifier compositions), and the Value Added Wheat CRC (a novel storage protein). Key applicants in beverages are Breville (juicers, tea and coffee grinding appliances) and Valent Biosciences (a synergistic combination to improve grape colour and alter sensory characteristics of wine). A key applicant in the other sub-industry is Probiomics Ltd with probiotic bacterium and their use in the treatment of skin disorders. Victoria has relative specialisations in beverage, and other. Key applicants in beverages are Carlton and United Breweries with methods for refining beverages; Flextank Pty Ltd with storage containers to control the oxygenation of wine; Memstart Pty Ltd with methods to reduce alcohol in beverages; and Ozmox with a method and apparatus for oxygenating wine. Key applicants in Sugar are Cadbury with processes for preparing chocolate crumb; Horizon Science Pty Ltd with natural sweeteners and extracts derived from sugar cane. Queensland has relative specialisations in meat, seafood and bakery. A key patent applicant in bakery is Moffat Pty Ltd with many and varied production methods and apparatus. Key applicants in meat are CSIRO with DNA markers for meat tenderness and automatic cutting of carcasses; and meat and Livestock Australia Ltd with meat processes and implements. Key applicants in seafood are Queensland Bioprocessing Technology Pty Ltd with use of abalone processing wastes; and Seafood Innovations with the processing and rotation of fish.
microencapsulation and inventions, such as: Powdered food formulations that resist oxidation due to an oxygen sensitive oil encapsulated within a film forming protein (WO 2001/074175); A fortified milk with extra calcium that does not produce a gritty mouth feel and is heat stable (WO 2001/072135); Gastrointestinal tract delivery systems where the invention relates to encapsulating agents combining food grade treated carbohydrate with protein (WO 2005/048998); and High amylose starches are to retain resistance while improving water binding properties and can be used as fat replacement ingredients (WO 2005/105851). Preservative compositions and materials were other inventions developed in the Food Sciences Division: Oxygen scavenging composition for use in food and beverage packaging to scavenge unwanted oxygen and improve shelf life and/or if incorporated into packaging materials to reveal leaks in packages or to indicate package damage caused by handling or tampering (WO 2002/051825; WO 2002/076916); A method of improved storage for fruit where gaseous unsaturated compounds such as ethylene are removed from the environment using tetrazine esters incorporated in a hydrophobic polymeric substrate (WO 2004/076545); and A method for inactivating microbiological spores in packaged food products which improves shelf life (WO 2005/041694). Finally, the Oilseeds Group of CSIRO Plant Industry’s Metabolic Engineering of New Plant Products program have been developing new plant oils for edible and industrial uses: Improved seed oils (including cottonseed) useful for treating or preventing disease selected from obesity, heart disease, hypertension, cancer, and diabetes (WO 2010/009500 and WO 2010/009499). Rice with improved health benefits including stability and storage with a fatty acid composition comprising greater oleic acid and less palmitic and/or linoleic acids (WO 2008/006171).
7 Patent citation analysis Objective: To provide patent citation analysis and to establish who cites food patents originating from Australia. Patent citation frequency is often used as an indicator of technological impact. Patent examiners and innovators worldwide routinely cite previous inventions, which are then recorded on the patent. The frequency of these citations is one metric for the impact of patents in terms of follow-on innovation. Figure 24 illustrates how to read a patent citation tree. There are two types of patent citations: citations to previous documents (backward citations) and citations of a patent document after its publication (forward citations). Entities are colour-coded. Backward citations can be indicative of the multi-disciplinary extent of a patent. For instance, multiple fields in the backwards citations indicate a patent that draws on several disciplines. Once a patent has been filed and is published, then others can cite it. Forward citations therefore can be indicative of the impact a patent has had on follow on innovation – the higher the count of forward citations, the greater the impact the patent has had on follow on innovation. Figure : An example of a patent citation tree with two generations of backward and forward citations relating to the subject patent
Appendix – OECD definitions of subregions: TL2 and TL3 regions of Australia Appendix – Classification into Food Sub-Industries IPC Subclass IPC Maingroup Food Sub-industry A01B Fruit & Veg A01C Fruit & Veg A01D Fruit & Veg A01F Fruit & Veg A01G 1-15/-- 16-17/-- 23-33/-- Fruit & Veg Grains & Cereals Fruit & Veg A01H Fruit & Veg A01J Dairy A01K 1-45/-- Meat 47-59/-- Sugar 61-97/-- Seafood A01M 21/-- Fruit & Veg 23-31/-- Meat A01N 1/-- Meat 3/-- Fruit & Veg A21B Bakery A21C Bakery A21D Bakery A22B Meat A22C Meat A23B 1-5/-- Meat A23B 7/-- Fruit & Veg A23B 9/-- Grains & Cereals A23C Dairy A23D Oil & Fat A23F Beverage A23G Sugar A23J Various A23L Various A23N Fruit & Veg A23P Other C05B Fruit & Veg C07H C08B Sugar C11B Oil & Fat C11C Oil & Fat C11D Oil & Fat C12C Beverage C12G Beverage C12H Beverage C12J Other C13B Sugar C13D Sugar C13F Sugar C13K Sugar
Appendix – Complete list of PCT contracting states two-letter code name of state AE United Arab Emirates AG Antigua and Barbuda AL Albania AM Armenia2 AO Angola AT Austria AU Australia AZ Azerbaijan BA Bosnia and Herzegovina BB Barbados BE Belgium BF Burkina Faso BG Bulgaria BH Bahrain2 BJ Benin BN Brunei Darussalam BR Brazil BW Botswana BY Belarus2 BZ Belize CA Canada CF Central African Republic CG Congo CH Switzerland CI Côte d’Ivoire CL Chile2 CM Cameroon CN China3, 4 CO Colombia CR Costa Rica CU Cuba2 CY Cyprus CZ Czech Republic DE Germany DK Denmark DM Dominica DO Dominican Republic DZ Algeria2 EC Ecuador EE Estonia EG Egypt ES Spain FI Finland5 FR France2, 6 GA Gabon GB United Kingdom7 GD Grenada GE Georgia2 GH GM Gambia GN Guinea GQ Equatorial Guinea GR Greece GT Guatemala GW Guinea-Bissau HN Honduras HR Croatia HU Hungary2
SD Sudan SE Sweden5 SG Singapore SI Slovenia SK Slovakia SL Sierra SM San Marino SN Senegal ST Sao Tome and Principe SV El Salvador SY Syrian Arab Republic SZ Swaziland TD Chad TG Togo TH Thailand2 TJ Tajikistan2 TM Turkmenistan2 TN Tunisia2 TR Turkey TT Trinidad and Tobago TZ United Republic of Tanzania UA Ukraine2 UG Uganda US United States of America11,12 UZ Uzbekistan2 VC Saint Vincent and the Grenadines2 VN Viet Nam ZA South Africa2 ZM Zambia ZW Zimbabwe