Sustainable Packaging:
Consumer demand is driving innovation but who are the innovators?
Which technologies and companies are leading the race to our sustainable future?
Sustainability
The United Nations Sustainability Goals (UN SDGs) provide a roadmap for innovation and technology development that can support sustainable development worldwide. By addressing environmental, social, and economic challenges through innovative solutions, we can work towards a more sustainable and equitable future. Although there are 17 UN SDGs, this page is focused on providing exclusive insight on the following:
- Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure – This goal aims to promote sustainable industrialisation and innovation, including the development of new technologies and infrastructure that are sustainable and resilient.
- Goal 13 Climate Action – This goal aims to mitigate and adapt to climate change, including through the development of new technologies and processes that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote renewable energy.
Patents play a critical role in driving innovation and supporting sustainable development. Patents provide an indicator as to which companies are leading the way for innovative sustainable products and processes that benefit both people and the planet.
On this page:
Sustainable Plastics
Asia accounts for 43% of the global biodegradable composition inventions
Download Free ReportMintel Sustainability Barometer 2022
The Cipher platform was instrumental in providing data to support consumer trends giant Mintel in producing their Sustainability Barometer for 2022.
A quote from the report’s author:
“Cipher’s patent analysis plays a crucial role in revealing who’s innovating and where and how that corresponds to both the solutions valued by consumers and the framework of Sustainable Development Goals established by the UN”.
Sustainability and detergents: environmentally friendly innovation
We reviewed the patent owners in the Sustainable Detergents space, identifying:
- the new technologies designed to produce innovative formulations
- the more sustainable products aimed at reducing the industry’s environmental impact
The Circular Economy: Sustainable Packaging
Improving the trajectory towards achieving circular economy targets requires a step-change in approach to sustainable packaging adoption across fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs).
To track this progress, we analysed patent data to see the innovation landscape across a subset of plastic packaging alternatives.
How can patent data be made actionable for the CTO office?
The CTO must choose which technologies will best enhance an organisation’s revenues. Substantial resources are invested in technology scouting and forecasting to both direct the selection of technologies and to assist the associated “buy v build” decisions. Trends in patented technology can support scouting and provide invaluable competitive intelligence to support this activity.
How can we identify new technology trends from patent data?
It is tempting to believe that because all patents (by legal definition) must be new, then all patent data reveals technology trends. While this is somewhat true, it’s not actionable. There are two dimensions to this. First, when an organisation moves into a new technology area. Patenting trends help forecast these strategic changes in direction. Secondly, when there is a notable trend in an established technology area. Cipher has developed new Machine Learning approaches to spotting what’s new from more of the same.
Sustainable Plastics – Inventions and innovators report
Sustainable plastics report
Our report includes:
- The top invention owners in alternative sustainable plastic technologies worldwide
- A weighted list of the leading sustainable plastic innovators – based on recent patenting activity by scale and overall exposure
Insights & Thought Leadership
Sustainability through a patent lens
Which patent innovations are helping to combat climate change? From packaging to batteries to electric vehicles, we look through a patent lens at sustainable technologies of the future.
Read more
Innovation-led Sustainability
Episode 1 in Season 3 features Gregorio Ossola, Head of Corporate Solutions at one.five. Greg shared with us the importance of a data-led approach to sustainability.
Read more
Biodegradable Alternatives to Plastics
Some 8 billion metric tons of plastic has been produced over the past 50 years. How is technology positively influencing the next 50 years and providing a more sustainable solution?
Read more
Investing in the Future of Technology
Episode 10, Season 1 of Cipher Vision Podcast series is about Investing in the Future of Technology. The season finale features two of Cipher’s directors, Scott Bell and Stephen Halliday.
Read more
Inventions & Innovators powering the Energy Transition
A detailed view of the leading innovators to watch based on recently-published inventions and applying weightings to technologies which enable the energy transition.
Read more
“
Cipher has helped us answer strategic business questions specifically by presenting the data to us in a way aligns with our own view of the world.
Jared Engstrom, Head of Patent Development, Red Hat
Cipher Vision Podcast
Cipher’s monthly podcast, Cipher Vision is now into its third season. Each episode has co-hosts Nigel Swycher (CEO) and Francesca Levoir (Head of Marketing) and a notable guest discuss an IP or patents-related topic.
Guests have covered a range of subjects, from valuation and sustainability through to diversity and machine learning.
Cipher Vision episodes are under 25 minutes and are ideal to listen to during a short break or journey.
At War With Cybersecurity
Episode 2 in Season 3 features Jared Engstrom, Senior Director, IP Strategy at CrowdStrike joined us to discuss how pivotal patents are to a strategic security strategy.
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Innovation-led Sustainability
Episode 1 in Season 3 features Gregorio Ossola, Head of Corporate Solutions at one.five. Greg shared with us the importance of a data-led approach to sustainability.
Read more
Communicating the Impact of Innovation
In our holiday special, Episode 11, Season 2, our hosts Francesca and Nigel introduce a medley of the best snippets from Series 2. Tune in to enjoy our highlights and key takeaways.
Read more
Understanding Patent Value
Episode 10 in Season 2 features Jay Yonamine, Product Manager, GEO, Google, who shared with us his perspective on patent value, his thoughts on existing valuation methods and what the future could look like, given the possibilities and limitations of ML and AI.
Read more
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in IP
Episode 9 in Season 2 features Mike Binns and Braxton Davis, both Associate General Counsel at Meta. They shared with us their experience pioneering DEI in the workplace and the current initiatives that they are working on, including ADAPT and The NCPP.
Read more
Investing in IP
Episode 8 in Season 2 features Julian Moore, Managing Director, Technology Corporate Finance at Houlihan Lokey. Julian shared with us his experience and understanding of investing in the IP analytics field, and more.
Read more
Cipher on Twitter
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- Mar 31
Our 25-minute #CipherVision #podcast episodes are described as ‘storytelling with #data‘ and have covered topics including #cybersecurity #ML #DEI, #investment strategies and patent #valuation. Listen now: https://t.co/k3RkeqtOkc #businesspodcasts #strategicpatentintelligence https://t.co/ve6EFmPvVY
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- Mar 30
We’re just back from #IPBCEurope, where our CEO @swychern moderated a masterclass on Handling Emerging Risks. If #risk to your #patent portfolio is a concern, our Patent Risk Hub has the resources to help you: https://t.co/dJpqcDhEju #patents #riskmanagement #riskmitigation #IP https://t.co/tXxMPlHRpq
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- Mar 29
Earlier this afternoon at #IPBCEurope, our CEO @swychern moderated a masterclass – Handling Emerging Risks – featuring panellists from @RaySearch, @Dentons and others. #IP #patents #strategicpatentintelligence. https://t.co/1yeIzvyqMh
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- Mar 29
The Cipher team is back at our booth at #IPBCEurope today in Paris. Please drop by and we’ll be more than happy to schedule a quick introductory meeting at a time to suit you. #IP #patentdata #strategicpatentintelligence. https://t.co/TAlC7n1G20
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- Mar 28
“You always learn something new.” Listen to how our CEO @swychern found Day One of #IPBCEurope in Paris today. #IP #patents https://t.co/Z2kRLNB60W
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- Mar 28
Delighted to have Ken Seddon, CEO, @TheLOTNET join the Cipher team for dinner in Paris last night, ahead of the start of #IPBCEurope today. Come to our booth to say hello or book in a meeting for an introduction to the Cipher platform: https://t.co/Nit3zBwQnD #patentdata #IP https://t.co/Z7AVNPQV5f
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- Mar 28
The Cipher Universal Technology Taxonomy places every #technology #patent in the world into manageable, sensible groupings. It’s organised by reference to Technology Superclasses (10) and Subclasses (122). Find out more: https://t.co/Vph3RIIYom #strategicpatentintelligence #IP https://t.co/DjgVYz3kgc
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- Mar 27
Anna, our Solutions Analyst prepared for this week’s attendance at #IPBCEurope in Paris by getting to grips with some boulders at #Fontainebleau over the weekend. Chat to our team for help with scaling your own #patent challenges: https://t.co/6FAttm5JCj https://t.co/pGeogsUM3V
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- Mar 25
“Filing #patents still makes sense, because we don’t know what the world is going to look like in 10 years or 20 years. And we don’t want to be caught with nothing.” – Jared Engstrom of @CrowdStrike in our latest podcast: https://t.co/oD4wQILvnT #ITpodcast #businesspodcast #IP https://t.co/8Uy1B9bnOX
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- Mar 24
Our Cipher Certified expert Katrin is at the 7th European Intellectual Property Forum (Berlin, 27 – 28 April). If you fancy learning about setting your own classifiers, book in a meeting to discuss the built-in training programme: https://t.co/dU4VzsupWb #patents #IP #patentdata https://t.co/snThmMiqie
With Cipher you can…
Optimise your portfolio
Ensure you have the right portfolio to meet your strategic patenting objectives.
Gather competitor intelligence
Understand who’s doing what by automating patent to technology mapping.
Model cross licensing
Combine patent and revenue data to determine rational licensing outcomes.
Manage your budget
Justify patent budgets and communicate the impact of your investment.
Conduct due diligence
Automate manual reviews for efficient execution of M&A and licensing transactions.
Tackle inbound patent assertion
Be prepared with evidence to create a fast and effective threat assessment.
Benchmark your portfolio
Assess your portfolio in comparison to other owners through your technology lens.
Monetise your portfolio
Identify opportunities to create value through licensing or sale of patent assets.
Predict technology trends
Track new technologies and discover the unknown owners of future innovation.
Create Risk Mitigation Strategies
Understand the materiality of your threats to define your risk mitigation strategy.