Visual Analysis Of Patents For Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Food From Global Perspective
Nov 19, 2024
2.3 Technical development stage of TCM health food
Through the above overall and local trend analysis, the global patent application volume of TCM health products has been stable since 2016, of which 21.5% are pending patents (Figures 1 and 2), and there is still a large space for authorization, indicating that TCM health food is in a period of rapid and stable development in the patent life cycle. From the perspective of the activity of the top 30 applicants in terms of patent application volume, in addition to the newly added active applicants, the traditional active applicants have continuously applied for patents related to this technology (Figure 7), continued to research and innovate the technology, and have formed a certain scale of intellectual property protection for their own technology, indicating that TCM health food is also in a period of rapid and stable development in the technology life cycle.
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2.4 Technical composition
Based on the characteristics of technology distribution, this study counts the technical categories of TCM health food technology-related patents, summarizes the technical hotspots and blank spots, and also conducts a detailed analysis of the technical distribution of the main innovation subjects in this field.
2.4.1 Technology hot spots and blank spots
From the perspective of the distribution of technical fields, the technical fields of patent applications for traditional Chinese medicine health food are mainly distributed in pharmaceuticals, food chemistry, organic fine chemistry and other special equipment, with the number of applications being 36,217, 20,673, 4,688 and 1,457 respectively (Figure 8). As an intersection of medicine and food, the hot technical fields of traditional Chinese medicine health food are still pharmaceuticals and food chemistry, but both medicine and food are comprehensive technical fields, so there is a phenomenon of crossing multiple technical fields. This shows that under the premise of maintaining the advantages of traditional technical fields, the technology is tending to develop in multiple technical fields, and giving products a variety of forms and functions is also in line with market demand; at the same time, this also shows that consumers have a demand for product diversification and functionality, so technology research and development entities need to carry out technological innovation in multiple technical fields to meet market demand and tap market potential.
Fig. 8 Technology field distribution of patents for traditional Chinese medicine health food
From the perspective of the corresponding specific clusters in the relevant technical fields, the technical clusters of patent applications for traditional Chinese medicine health food are mainly distributed in A23L033, A61P-029 and A61P-001, and the corresponding technical clusters are respectively changing the nutritional properties of food, nutritional products and their preparation or processing, non-central analgesics, antipyretics or anti-inflammatory agents and drugs for treating digestive tract or digestive system diseases. The number of patent applications corresponding to the above technical clusters accounts for about 25% of the total number of patent applications (Figure 9). Among them, changing the nutritional properties of food, nutritional products, and preparation or processing of traditional Chinese medicine health food are hot clusters, and a single cluster accounts for about 12.5% of the total number of applications. Nutritional products are the main function achieved by traditional Chinese medicine health food, occupying a dominant position in technical efficacy, and are also the technical cluster with the largest market demand.
Fig. 9 IPC clustering of patent technology for traditional Chinese medicine health food
The areas with less technical clusters of patent applications for traditional Chinese medicine health food are A23L-019, A23L-002 and A23L-007, and the corresponding technical clusters are fruit or vegetable preparation, preparation or processing thereof, non-alcoholic beverages and their dry compositions or concentrates, products containing cereals, malt products and their preparation or processing. The blank areas of technical cluster distribution are A23B, A23C, A23D, A23F, A23G and A23J, and the corresponding technical clusters are preserved, ripened or canned products, dairy products, milk or cheese substitutes and their preparation, edible oils or fats, coffee, tea and their substitutes, manufacturing, preparation or brewing, cocoa, cocoa products and their substitutes, confectionery, chewing gum, ice cream preparation and edible protein compositions, edible protein processing, edible phospholipid compositions. Combined with the product form and use of health food, and the characteristics of the above cluster distribution areas, the areas with less technical clusters and blanks in patent applications for traditional Chinese medicine health food are suitable for development as health food.
In addition to focusing on the application of Chinese medicinal materials directly as raw materials in health foods, we should also pay attention to the deep-processed health foods obtained by further processing their extracts as raw materials. Among them, edible oil or fat and edible protein compositions, edible protein processing, and edible phospholipid compositions in the technology cluster represent deep-processed products that meet market demand. In addition to focusing on the main market demand, the potential market demand should not be ignored.
2.4.2 Technology Activity
Based on the overall understanding of the technology distribution, the technology distribution is further analyzed from the main applicants in this field. The top 30 applicants in the number of patent applications for traditional Chinese medicine health food mainly apply for patents in the fields of pharmaceuticals and food chemistry (Figure 10). In addition, other active technical fields are organic fine chemistry, other special equipment, medical technology, basic material chemistry, chemical engineering, macromolecular chemistry/polymers, detection and biotechnology. The distributed technical fields are rich and diverse, covering technology research and development and the entire industrial chain. This shows that traditional Chinese medicine health food has currently formed a multi-functional and multi-category product system. In order to achieve product diversity and derive various technical fields, it is the increasingly rich consumer demand and the infinitely extended market potential space that promote the comprehensive development of this technology. In order to stand out from many innovative entities and maintain advantages, technical innovation entities are also increasingly skilled in using intellectual property rights to protect related technologies and establish technical barriers to fully implement the transformation of patented technologies during the technology life cycle and legal life cycle.
Fig. 10 Applicant-technology field distribution of patents for traditional Chinese medicine health food
3 Discussion
In recent years, based on the concept of medicine and food homology of the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine, traditional Chinese medicine health food has distinct characteristics such as the holistic concept of unity of man and nature, the dynamic concept of yin and yang balance, the three-factor differentiation and treatment, the concept of prevention and treatment before the disease occurs, the concept of conditioning and nursing of the body and spirit, and the natural drug use orientation [9]. With the accelerated pace of life, the aging population, and the high incidence of chronic diseases, traditional Chinese medicine health food can increasingly meet the consumption needs of people with sub-health and special diseases. Combined with multiple technical fields, it has gradually opened up the consumer market and achieved rapid and stable development, and has great potential for sustainable development.
This study conducted a statistical analysis of the patent applications for traditional Chinese medicine health food from the perspective of technology distribution and found that China's patent applications are the most active in terms of region, time, applicants, etc., and have also affected various parts of the world to varying degrees. This shows that the traditional Chinese medicine health concept of medicine and food homology is gradually spreading to the world and is gradually being widely accepted by other countries in the world. It has huge market potential and good development prospects.
Moreover, this study conducted a comprehensive analysis of the patent applications of TCM health products from the perspective of the legal status and technical composition of the applicants. It was found that each applicant was highly active in this technical field, and the technical composition included key active technologies such as pharmaceuticals, food chemistry, organic fine chemistry, other special equipment, medical technology, basic material chemistry, and macromolecular chemistry. The specific hot spots were clustered as technologies for changing the nutritional properties of food, nutritional products, and their preparation or processing. Therefore, the interaction and integration of key technologies and hot technologies can be strengthened. At the same time, a series of technical gaps also appeared in the patent analysis, such as the preparation, deep processing, and storage of edible oils or fats and edible protein compositions, edible proteins, and edible phospholipid compositions containing TCM, and key technologies with independent intellectual property rights have not yet been effectively formed. This is also a breakthrough for the technical integration and innovation of TCM health products and product development ideas.
The Orbit intellectual property database is widely used in patent analysis [10-11]. Its users include patent examiners, patent agents, and intellectual property workers from all over the world. More than 3,000 companies around the world, including the Fortune 500, use the Orbit platform for daily intellectual property work. It includes various patent data from more than 100 countries and organizations since the 19th century, full-text patent data from 23 countries and organizations, design patent data from more than 50 countries and organizations, trademark data from more than 80 countries, and 150 million non-patent documents. You can search and download full-text patent document data in Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, etc. at the same time. Therefore, based on the comprehensive content and diverse functions of the Orbit patent database, this study conducts a visual analysis of Chinese medicine health food patents from a global perspective.
According to current reports, there are few international patent analysis reports on Chinese medicine health food, and there is a lack of literature reports on technology and product gaps. There is also a lack of literature summary and organization in terms of technology composition, and the development direction in the process of achievement transformation lacks big data analysis and guidance, which may make it in a "blind" development state while continuing to develop, and the precise hot spot entry or gap filling of technology and products may be slow. The innovation of this study is to use the Orbit platform to conduct a multi-dimensional analysis of the relevant patents on the technical theme of traditional Chinese medicine health food in terms of region, time, applicants, and technology categories, and determine the development trend, hot spots, and blank areas of related product technologies, which provides a basis for the research and development of related technologies and patent layout, and also provides more specific guidance for the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and health food industries.
Although the current volume of patent applications for traditional Chinese medicine health food related technologies is huge, effective patent protection has not yet been formed, and there is still a long way to go in seeking a win-win situation between technological innovation and patent protection. Studies have shown that there is still a large gap in the patent conversion rate between universities in China and the United States, and the proliferation of low-quality patents and the loss of patent results are relatively common [12]. Therefore, the innovation subject needs to have a deeper understanding of the current status of technology, integrate the hot areas and core technologies of traditional Chinese medicine health food in a targeted manner, fill in the technical gaps according to market demand, enhance the level of innovation and patent protection awareness, and give full play to my country's comprehensive advantages in this field.
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