The medical devices industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by the increased need for homecare, preventative treatments, early diagnosis, reducing patient recovery times and improving outcomes, as well as a growing importance of technologies such as machine learning, augmented reality, 5G and digitalization. In the last three years alone, there have been over 710,000 patents filed and granted in the medical devices industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Cybersecurity in medical: patient data blockchain. Buy the report here.

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According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 155,000 patents to analyze innovation intensity for the medical devices industry, there are 30+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

Patient data blockchain is a key innovation area in cybersecurity

Blockchain allows for the decentralized storage and sharing of data. When used to safeguard medical data, blockchain may store information in a way that is transparent to everyone on the network, completely irreversible, and impenetrable to tampering. Physicians and nurses would be able to access information from a single, trustworthy platform if electronic health records were established on the blockchain. Everyone would have access to the same data, and any updates would be immediately available to the whole network. This means that medical teams may be certain that the information they get about a patient is accurate and up to date.

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies.  According to GlobalData, there are 130+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established medical devices companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of patient data blockchain.

Key players in patient data blockchain – a disruptive innovation in the medical devices industry

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.

Patent volumes related to patient data blockchain

Bluefin Payment Systems is the leading patent filer in the field of patient data blockchain. Some other key patent filers in the field include Takeda Pharmaceutical, International Business Machines (IBM), and Alibaba Group.

In terms of application diversity, Takeda Pharmaceutical leads the pack, followed by Launch Tech and DexCom. By geographic reach, Takeda Pharmaceutical held the top position, followed by Mate Fertility and Bluefin Payment Systems in second and third spots, respectively.

The rapidly growing disease burden has resulted in the creation of huge volumes of data, highlighting the importance of proper data management. Blockchain technology has piqued the curiosity of a number of significant players in the healthcare business in recent years. Because of the growing interest in technology, several government entities throughout the world are engaging in considerable research operations, which will increase market size. Blockchain is exceedingly secure, eliminates the need for a third-party administrator, and gives a high level of transparency.

To further understand how cybersecurity is disrupting the medical devices industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Medical Devices.

GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.

GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.