Technology

What’s on the Market in Wearable Tech

Published

10 years ago

August 19, 2014

Jeff Desjardins

What’s on the Market in Wearable Tech

Wearable technology has come a long way from the first widespread wearable gadget, the calculator watch. The wearable tech industry has been receiving a lot of attention in the past few years. It is likely on the brink of rapid ascension, especially with big hitters like Samsung and Apple pursuing the opportunity.

Equally as important, the fashion industry is also taking note of the growing market. In fact, just last week Toronto hosted an exclusively wearable tech fashion show. In order for the masses to buy into wearable tech, it needs to look good. It is likely that no matter how cool or convenient a gadget may be, consumers won’t buy unless it looks visually appealing. Perhaps someone like Tom Ford can figure out how to make Google Glass look cool.

Predictions on the market size vary depending on whom you ask. Looking at the chart below, even the most pessimistic forecast indicates a descent-sized opportunity.

For you eager investors looking to cash in on the opportunity, here are the top eight companies in wearable tech, according to Business Insider. You’ll find the usual suspects in there – Apple, Samsung, Google – but don’t forget companies like Nike and Adidas, who have been in the wearable tech industry for years now.

Also, the wearable tech boom coincides with another growing and very significant technological revolution, the Internet of Things. Wearable tech’s role in IoT will be to connect your physical body to the ecosystem by sending information on your mood, health, preferences, etc.

Big things are coming in the next few years. It will be interesting to see how tech can further integrate itself into our lives.

Original infographic from: TollFreeForwarding.com

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Visualizing AI Patents by Country

See which countries have been granted the most AI patents each year, from 2012 to 2022.

Published

23 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Marcus Lu

Visualizing AI Patents by Country

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

This infographic shows the number of AI-related patents granted each year from 2010 to 2022 (latest data available). These figures come from the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), accessed via Stanford University’s 2024 AI Index Report.

From this data, we can see that China first overtook the U.S. in 2013. Since then, the country has seen enormous growth in the number of AI patents granted each year.

Year	China	EU and UK	U.S.	RoW	Global Total
2010	307	137	984	571	1,999
2011	516	129	980	581	2,206
2012	926	112	950	660	2,648
2013	1,035	91	970	627	2,723
2014	1,278	97	1,078	667	3,120
2015	1,721	110	1,135	539	3,505
2016	1,621	128	1,298	714	3,761
2017	2,428	144	1,489	1,075	5,136
2018	4,741	155	1,674	1,574	8,144
2019	9,530	322	3,211	2,720	15,783
2020	13,071	406	5,441	4,455	23,373
2021	21,907	623	8,219	7,519	38,268
2022	35,315	1,173	12,077	13,699	62,264

In 2022, China was granted more patents than every other country combined.

While this suggests that the country is very active in researching the field of artificial intelligence, it doesn’t necessarily mean that China is the farthest in terms of capability.

Key Facts About AI Patents

According to CSET, AI patents relate to mathematical relationships and algorithms, which are considered abstract ideas under patent law. They can also have different meaning, depending on where they are filed.

In the U.S., AI patenting is concentrated amongst large companies including IBM, Microsoft, and Google. On the other hand, AI patenting in China is more distributed across government organizations, universities, and tech firms (e.g. Tencent).

In terms of focus area, China’s patents are typically related to computer vision, a field of AI that enables computers and systems to interpret visual data and inputs. Meanwhile America’s efforts are more evenly distributed across research fields.

Learn More About AI From Visual Capitalist

If you want to see more data visualizations on artificial intelligence, check out this graphic that shows which job departments will be impacted by AI the most.