In the COP 15 meeting that took place in Copenhagen there was one very interesting meeting that didn´t make the headlines. The European Patent Office and the UN Environment Programme and International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), presented the first findings of a joint project on “Patents and Clean Energy: Bridging the gap between evidence and policy”.Â
The idea is to map climate friendly technologies to see if anything can be learned from this (trends, ownership, technology transfer etc.). The EPO has published its slides from the meeting in Copenhagen. In the slides the initial findings are presented:Â
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There is increased patent activity in climate friendly technologies compared to fossil fuel technologies. The increase takes place after the Kyoto agreement, showing that such agreements have a profound effect not only on governments but also in research and business. Â
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Developed countries dominate the field Â
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Geothermal technologies is the least developed field. Â
Later in 2010 the EPO and its allies will publish further results which I look forward to. It seems that this approach is an important one when it comes to defining the trends, working out technology transfer agreements (as the developing countries are crying out for) and also in public research policy. If a field is left underdeveloped by business, but play an important role in the combat against climate change, it is possible for governments to support these areas.Â
It would be interesting to make a more detailed country study focusing on where the technologies are developed (inventor location).  
I got the heads up for this post from AG-IPÂ