for 29 years in a row, IBM led the United States in patent creation, at its peak filing more than 10,000 U.S. patent applications in a single year for innovations ranging from ATMs to e-commerce, two-nanometer chips and quantum computing . It’s been an incredible ride, but the new IBM is ready for new challenges.
As part of our relentless ability to reinvent, we have decided in 2020 to no longer pursue the goal of leadership in digital patents. As a result, 2022 is the first time since 1993 that IBM hasn’t claimed the top spot on the list of companies with the most US patents.
Why, after three decades, such a radical change? One word: focus.
Today, IBM is a hybrid cloud computing and AI company. Although we remain an intellectual property powerhouse with one of the strongest US patent portfolios, as part of our innovation strategy, concentration means we take a more selective approach to patents. We have further directed our talents and resources towards delivering high-quality, high-impact advancements in the specific areas of hybrid cloud, data and AI, automation, security, semi- conductors and quantum computing.
Patents are only one measure of a company’s true capacity for innovation. IBM will continue to patent new technologies, but patents alone are a more incomplete barometer than ever.
Our longstanding commitment to research as part of our business model means we will continue to create the technologies that our customers and the world rely on. When it comes to the most promising areas of AI technology, cloud, security, semiconductors and quantum computing, innovation requires special attention. These areas are so dynamic and complex that we need more hands on deck for each breakthrough.
This increasingly requires balancing trade secrets and patents with a style of R&D called “open innovation,” in which teams from various organizations and institutions collaborate with internal and external players. They openly share their knowledge around well-defined issues and communities.
Take the example of one of the most fascinating and promising technologies, quantum computing. IBM’s work in quantum computing has been intentionally based on a blend of proprietary and open innovation since day one. Our quantum hardware has always been developed in-house and protected by trade secrets and patents. But in 2016, we made the decision to provide access to these pioneering quantum computers via the cloud. For the first time, quantum computing was no longer the domain of scientific researchers. Anyone with an internet connection could access the most sophisticated quantum technology in the world. We have supported this in open source our Qiskit software so that developers around the world can learn how to build quantum applications.
It was literally a game changer. Today, over 1.5 million people have downloaded the Qiskit SDK, there are over 450,000 registered IBM Quantum users, and researchers have used our technology to author over 1,700 scientific publications. We have worked with university partners to install quantum computers in Germany and Japanwith other systems to be brought online in Canada, South Korea and the Cleveland Clinic in the United States
Meanwhile, our IBM Quantum network has over 200 members, with companies from Boeing to HSBC for Mitsubishi Chemical using quantum computers to pursue industry-changing research.
We see collaboration, not exclusivity, as the best way to advance technology and build a quantum industry.
This does not mean that intellectual property protection, as a concept, will disappear. IBM, like most companies, will always protect its innovations by using copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and patents. You simply cannot innovate at scale without a thoughtful and proactive IP strategy to protect parts of what you have created. A balanced approach to innovation requires technical teams to devote as much energy to open innovation, building communities, and delighting customers through great design and user experiences as they do to protecting their innovations and inventions.
Today, there is really no single measure that can capture the nature of innovation. However, our experience suggests a few goalposts that can help us do so in this new era.
Innovation is a combination of talents, resources and how the talent applies those resources. This may involve obtaining a patent, contributing to open source, or creating entirely new markets, such as the work we are doing to build a quantum industry. And while you can’t quantify it in terms of patent numbers or even R&D dollars, the progress will become evident as the life-changing applications of these exciting new technologies continue to multiply.
That’s why we bet you should consider the real impact of a given technology, and not just the number of patents issued while building it.
Dario GilPh.D., is SVP of IBM and Director of IBM Research.
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