Notes on the development of water treatment technologies: an analysis of patent applications between 2000 and 2020

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the research efforts carried out to develop new technological applications in the field of water and sanitation services. We use the Derwent Innovations platform to perform a search for global patent applications made between 2000 and 2020 that received the D15 technological classification ("treating water, industrial waste and sewage"). The survey identified 31,278 patent families, including 2,938 applications that were extended to Brazil. Our results suggest that General Electric (GE) owns the most technologically important water treatment patents. The company also stands out as the main holder of Brazilian patents, being closely followed by other multinationals such as Veolia and 3M. We conclude that large international companies are interested in spreading the main water treatment technologies to Brazil. Due to its large rivers and aquifers, Brazil poses as an attractive place for the development of new water treatment solutions. On the other hand, despite this favorable scenario, Brazilian organizations are staying out of the global race for patents in the field of water-related technologies.