The technology industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by the growth of the market, including the increasing need for energy efficiency, grid reliability, and sustainability, and growing importance of technologies such as smart grid, real-time data analytics, and communication systems that enable effective load management and demand-side response. In the last three years alone, there have been over 3.6 million patents filed and granted in the technology industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Technology Innovation: Tarriff-based load management. Buy the report here.
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However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilising and reaching maturity.
Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.
300+ innovations will shape the technology industry
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the technology industry using innovation intensity models built on over 2.5 million patents, there are 300+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Within the emerging innovation stage, microphone beamforming, live betting games, and quantum dots are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Circuit design testing, smart contracts, and surround sound systems are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are, vehicle platooning, Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) power management, and wireless microphones, which are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for the technology industry
Tariff-based load management is a key innovation area in technology
Tariff-based load management is an approach employed by electricity providers to control electricity demand and decrease peak energy usage. By implementing varied electricity prices during different time periods, customers are incentivized to adjust their energy consumption to off-peak hours when electricity costs are lower. This strategy promotes more balanced energy usage throughout the day and week, resulting in reduced overall energy consumption.
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 120+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established technology companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of tariff-based load management.
Key players in tarriff-based load management – a disruptive innovation in the technology industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to tarriff based load management
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Panasonic is a leading patent filer in tariff-based load management. One of the company’s patents focuses on an electric power price information acquisition unit that collects information about the cost of electricity from a commercial power source, while a price determination unit determines the electricity cost for different time blocks based on power generation from natural energy and stored power from an electric storage device. A user price list generation unit creates a comprehensive list displaying the electricity purchase price, power generation price, and stored power price for any selected time block.
Other prominent patent filers in the space include Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric.
By geographic reach, FiveAI leads the pack, followed by Greenwave Systems and Daiwa House Industry. In terms of application diversity, FiveAI holds the top position, followed by Alphabet and Signify.
Tariff-based load management plays a significant role in optimizing energy consumption by incentivizing customers to shift their electricity usage to off-peak hours. By implementing different pricing structures, it helps reduce peak demand, ensures efficient utilization of resources, and contributes to a more sustainable and reliable electricity grid.
To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the technology industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Technology.
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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.
