The Green Transformation Technologies Inventory (GXTI)

The Green Transformation Technologies Inventory (GXTI) is a technologies inventory which gives a bird’s-eye view of technologies related to Green Transformation (GX) published by the JPO in June 2022. Each item in the GXTI includes the patent search formulae to search patent documents.

Nowadays, we are expected to shift economic, social and industrial structures, which have depended upon fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution, into structures driven by clean energy, and also to carry out a GX in the form of an overall transformation of economic and social systems.

In order to increase their economic and social value, companies advance efforts to disclose how the value of their products and services can contribute toward solving climate change issues. In addition, they are required to disclose climate change-related risks and opportunities upon their business activities.

Patent information analysis is considered to be one of the most effective methods with which to figure out GX trends, as well as to disclose company information about GX-related efforts and the impact of climate change upon business.

It is expected that the GXTI will become a useful common asset with which to analyze GX technology based on patent information.

GXTI（GX Technologies Inventory）

• GXTI（GX Technologies Inventory in English）（incl. Patent Search Formula, Excel version）（Excel：57KB）[Last updated: 8 December 2022]
• GXTI（GX Technologies Inventory in English）（Technologies Inventory Only, PDF version） （PDF：251KB）

The GXTI provides patent search formulae specific to searches via Logical Expression Input on J-PlatPat (External link), which is a free patent search database provided by INPIT.

The patent search formulae are not only valid for J-PlatPat but also in other commercial patent search databases by adding search operators of each database, because IPC and Japanese/English keywords are published.

For GXTI modifications, please refer to the sheet titled “contents of modification” in the Excel file that you can download from the above.

Background to the Creation of the GXTI

The technologies inventory was developed after two rounds of discussions (6 January 2022 and 6 April 2022) by a panel comprised of six external experts with in-depth knowledge of GX technology.

In addition, the comprehensive patent search formulae linked to each technology category were prepared by patent examiners in each category.

Members of the Expert Panel (in alphabetical order, titles omitted)

Keigo AKIMOTO	Group Leader/Chief Researcher, Systems Analysis Group, Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth
Koji OYAMA	Fellow, Center for Research and Development Strategy, Japan Science and Technology Agency
Michihisa KOYAMA	Professor, Research Initiative for Supra-Materials, Shinshu University
Kenji TANAKA	Associate Professor, Department of Technology Management for Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Hideyuki DOHI	Executive Officer, General Manager of Energy Technology Research Dept., ENEOS Research Institute, Ltd. （Formerly, Director General, Environment and Green Chemistry Unit, Technology Strategy Center, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization）
Takao NAKAGAKI	Professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University

 

Observers of the Expert Panel

• Energy and Environment Innovation Strategy Office, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
• Office of Global Environment and Decarbonizing Innovation Research, Global Environment Bureau, Ministry of the Environment

Three features of the GXTI

The GXTI has the following three features:

The first feature is that the GXTI illustrates how to categorize GX technologies.

The GXTI consists of three levels of hierarchy as follows:

Level 1 (comprises 6 large categories)

Level 2 (comprises 32 medium categories)

Level 3 (comprises 86 small categories)

The symbol for each category starts with “gx”.

Level 1 Category

The Level 1 Category consists of five perspectives: (1) energy supply(gxA), (2) energy demand(gxB), (3) energy storage(gxC), (4) CO2 reduction in non-energy sectors(gxD) and (5) capture, storage, utilization and removal of greenhouse gas(gxE).

A separate set of four transversal perspectives(gxY) is also provided in the Level 1 Category. The four perspectives are “control-related technology”, “measurement-related technology”, “business-related technology” and “ICT-related technology”. GxY is the cross tabulation of these four perspectives and five GX technology categories, gxA to gxE. In other words, the number of patent documents in gxY is an inner number of the number of patent documents in gxA-gxE. GxY can be used to identify trends in GX technologies which include each of the transversal perspectives. ("Energy Supply X Control and Coordination", for example)

Level 2 Category and Level 3 Category

In the Level 2 Category and the Level 3 Category, important individual technologies in each Level 1 category are listed.

In the GXTI, the Level 3 Category illustrates what specific technologies are involved in the Level 2 Category, and analyses of patent application trends are expected to be conducted by the unit in the Level 2 Category. It is also possible, of course, to make analyses by the units in the Level 3 Category.

In some cases, a patent document might involve multiple technologies listed in the Level 2 and/or the Level 3 Category. Since the Level 3 Category was created with the principal aim of linking each category with a patent search formula, the technical granularity differs by the category. Some Level 3 Categories in the same Level 2 Category are conceptually overlapped.

The second feature is that the patent formulae are published, meaning that anyone can search patent documents in the same way, and can obtain the same objective results using the published patent formulae that correspond to each category of technology in Level 3.

As above, the GXTI consists of three hierarchical structures of categories (Level 1-3), and the patent formulae corresponding to each category level. It is possible to search for patents corresponding to each category of technology in the Level 3 Category and the number of the patents.

In case of searching for all relevant patents in the Level 2, Level 1 or the whole GXTI, all the patent formulae in the Level 3 category under that category must be added up (By taking the union set).

The third feature comprises patent formulae that do not use specific search indexes from a limited number of countries and regions, but use International Patent Classifications (IPC) or a combination of IPCs and keywords.

※As of 2022, IPC is used for over 100 countries and regions, including members of the Strasbourg Agreement.

Utilization of the GXTI

While individual companies are expected to disclose the fact that risk and revenue opportunities related to climate change have an impact upon business activities and revenue, it is often pointed out that there is a lack of data for analyzing the relationship between business activities and climate change issues.

Patent information analysis is considered to be one of the most effective methods with which to figure out GX trends, as well as to disclose company information about GX-related efforts and the impact of climate change upon business. The GXTI presents an example of how patent documents can be searched for a particular GX technology.

With the GXTI, a company can objectively quantify their strengths in GX technology by quoting the number of their patent applications in each technology category by searching patent documents with applicant names from the company for each relevant technology category, for instance. Also, if you search patent documents with applicant names from other company, you can compare the strengths of your company in terms of GXTI technology category with other companies. In this way, the GXTI can be a useful aid for planning your business and patent strategy.

Further Plans by the JPO

Survey by the JPO

The JPO conducts a survey using the GXTI to outline the trends in patent applications in each country by GXTI technology category.

The interim results of the survey are published as follows.

The final results of the survey will be released in April or May 2023.

In addition to visualizing the share and transition of GX technology in Japan and other countries, these final results are also intended to be used by companies and others as a reference for analysis methods when conducting patent analysis using GXTI.

The interim results of the survey on using the GXTI（Released：30 January 2023　PDF：153KB）

【Appendix】The interim results of survey on using the GXTI（Released：30 January 2023　Excel：44KB）

Notable Technologies not in the GXTI

The JPO is also planning to select around five to ten themes of notable technologies, such as “Energy Saving at Data Centers”, “Inventions related to CO2 Emission Trading” etc., which are not part of the GXTI hierarchical structure, and to publish them with the patent search formulae.

International Development

The JPO intends to take international initiatives and to hold discussions with intellectual property offices of the United States, Europe, China, and Korea, as well as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) regarding the effective use and the improvement of the GXTI. The GXTI will be reviewed and updated as necessary.

Call for Examples of Utilization of the GXTI

The JPO is calling for examples of patent information analysis or climate change related information disclosures utilizing the GXTI.

We will report the case studies as soon as we have received and reviewed them. We will also be happy to post links to cases that have already been published on the Internet.

Please contact us at the contact below if you wish to be listed.

Your opinion on the GXTI

When we update the GXTI, we would like to refer to users’ opinions. Please contact us using the contact information below should you have any opinions to share.

[Last updated 30 January 2023]

Contact

Policy Planning and Research Division Policy Planning and Coordination Department Japan Patent Office（JPO） E-mail:PA0930@jpo.go.jp