Technology Trends in Biodegradable Polymers: Evidence from Patent Analysis

ABSTRACT

The public and governmental awareness regarding more sustainable products have gained significant momentum in the last decade and are directing the future research of the next generation of materials and processes. In such a setting, biodegradable polymers are regarded as one of the technologies driving the innovation and current market growth because they provide an additional end of life option. Tracing the evolving trends of these emerging technologies will help researchers, investors, and policy makers to better evaluate the opportunities of the technology as well as to understand the technology's changing characteristics. Therefore, within this study, we perform bibliographic analyses based on patent information to delineate the current research landscape and to anticipate the future development trends by focusing on the cases of poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs), polycaprolactone (PCL), poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT). The following findings were made: First, PLA gets the highest attention from both academia and industry. Second, the overall international presence of biodegradable polymer patents is high, especially in the field of PHAs. Third, technology maturity and technology strength show that PLA is the most promising technology at present in technological terms, whereas PHAs, PCL, and PBS are uncertain technologies and PBAT has a rather low development potential.

KEYWORDS:

• Biodegradable polymers
• patent analysis
• biopolymers

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of BASF and in particular the support of Dr. Lars Börger for his academic and business related efforts. The authors would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions that greatly contributed to improving the final version of the paper.

Notes

¹ Our research focus does not lie on the identification of market trends.

² Industrial applicability refers to the fact that inventions with only of theoretical value are not patentable.

³ For “Europe”, EPO, and patents registered in specific patent offices as Germany, Belgium, France, or Great Britain are counted.

⁴ White space is a metaphor about opportunity and describes an unexplored territory, where unmet and unarticulated needs can be uncovered to create innovation opportunities. Thus, ‘white opportunity’ refers to an area of potential growth.