WIPO Report on substantial growth in assistive technologies sector and their widespread use in consumer goods

In recent years, the innovation sector helping people compensate for musculoskeletal disorders, visual and other impairment, saw a double-digit growth. The corresponding assistive technologies are increasingly applied in consumer goods.

According to the “WIPO Technology Trends 2021: Assistive technology” report, today more than a billion people are in need of assistive technologies, while it is expected that during the next decade this number will double as the population ages. At the same time, there is a convergence of consumer electronics and assistive technologies, which means even greater commercialization of such technologies.

According to the report, innovation (from minor improvements of existing products to the latest developments on the basis of advanced technologies) can significantly improve the lives of people with functional impairments. Such technologies help them to overcome everyday difficulties in movement, communication, and work, and enable them live without any assistance.

The report was based on the patent and other information ensuring a reliable factual base on innovation in the global sector of assistive technologies, which can be used by managers of enterprises, researchers and policy makers in the decision-making process.

Thus, it was noted that in the period from 1998 to mid-2020 more than 130,000 patents belonging to the traditional and newest assistive technologies were published, and the number of patents related to the latest assistive technologies only amounted to 15,592 during the specified period; the number of applications for the latest assistive technologies increased three times faster than that for the traditional ones. There is also a convergence of assistive technologies with consumer electronics and general medical technologies.

The report concludes that intellectual property contributes to the development of innovations in the assistive technologies sphere. The experts that prepared the report stress the need to make these innovations more accessible to those who depend on them. Currently, only every tenth in the world has access to the necessary assistive devices.

Based on the WIPOmaterials.