IBM announced that it broke the US patent record with 8,088 patents granted to its inventors in 2016, marking the 24th consecutive year of innovation leadership.

IBM’s 2016 patent output covers a diverse range of inventions in artificial intelligence and cognitive computing, cognitive health, cloud, cybersecurity and other strategic growth areas for the company.

IBM inventors were granted more than 22 patents per day in 2016, enabling the company to become the first to surpass 8,000 patents in a single year. IBM researchers, engineers, and designers generated more than 2,700 patents for inventions related to AI, cognitive computing and cloud computing.

“Leading the world in innovation for 24 years in a row is a result of IBM’s unmatched commitment to innovation and R&D - reflected in this year’s new US patent record, breaking the 8,000 barrier for the first time,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM’s chairman, president and CEO.
“We are deeply proud of our inventors’ unique contributions to discovery, science and technology that are driving progress across business and society and opening the new era of cognitive business.”
 
In the Middle East and Africa, IBM inventors contributed 42 patents to IBM's record breaking US patent total of over 8,000 patents in 2016.
 
More than 8,500 IBM inventors residing in 47 states and territories and 47 countries are responsible for IBM’s record-setting 2016 patent tally.
 
The top 10 list of 2016 US patent recipients includes:
1.  IBM –8,088; 2.  Samsung Electronics –5,518; 3.  Canon –3,665; 4.  Qualcomm –2,897;
5.  Google –2,835; 6.  Intel –2,784; 7.  LG Electronics –2,428; 8.  Microsoft –2,398; 9.  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. –2,288; and 10.   Sony –2,181. (Data provided by IFI Claims Patent Services)

In the area of cognitive computing and artificial intelligence, IBM inventors patented more than 1,100 inventions that help machines learn, reason, and efficiently process diverse data types while interacting with people in natural and familiar ways.
 
IBM inventors were awarded patents on innovations that will help advance cognitive healthcare. IBM inventors also patented more than 1,600 inventions that can help advance the field of cloud computing. - TradeArabia News Service