Share this article

The medical devices industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by increased need for homecare, preventative treatments, early diagnosis, reducing patient recovery times and improving outcomes, as well as a growing importance in technologies such as machine learning, augmented reality, 5G and digitalization. In the last three years alone, there have been over 710,000 patents filed and granted in the medical devices industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Artificial intelligence in medical: AI for MRIBuy the report here.

Smarter leaders trust GlobalData

According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 155,000 patents to analyze innovation intensity for the medical devices industry, there are 30+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

AI-assisted MRI is a key innovation area in artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) assisted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has the potential to enhance the utility of traditional MRI from manually diagnosing changes in organ features as an indication of a disease to a true diagnostic tool that relates features to specific diseases in an automated and accurate process. This will greatly help the radiologist and other clinicians in interpreting images and provide more accurate and timely diagnoses which will improve patient outcomes.

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies.  According to GlobalData, there are 150+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established medical devices companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of AI-assisted MRI.

Key players in AI-assisted MRI – a disruptive innovation in the medical devices industry

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.

Patent volumes related to AI-assisted MRI

Company Total patents (2010 - 2022) Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies
Heartflow Inc 311 Unlock Company Profile
Siemens Healthineers AG 130 Unlock Company Profile
Fujifilm Holdings Corp 117 Unlock Company Profile
Koninklijke Philips NV 112 Unlock Company Profile
Enlitic Inc 94 Unlock Company Profile
International Business Machines Corp 74 Unlock Company Profile
Canon Inc 70 Unlock Company Profile
Cleerly Inc 53 Unlock Company Profile
Kheiron Medical Technologies Ltd 45 Unlock Company Profile
Samsung Group 43 Unlock Company Profile
Stryker Corp 37 Unlock Company Profile
Heuron Co Ltd 36 Unlock Company Profile
Siemens AG 36 Unlock Company Profile
Hitachi Ltd 32 Unlock Company Profile
Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co Ltd 31 Unlock Company Profile
Olympus Corp 28 Unlock Company Profile
Vektor Medical Inc 28 Unlock Company Profile
Bayer AG 25 Unlock Company Profile
Nikon Corp 24 Unlock Company Profile
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center 23 Unlock Company Profile
Tencent Holdings Ltd 23 Unlock Company Profile
Toshiba Corp 21 Unlock Company Profile
Cosmo Pharmaceuticals NV 21 Unlock Company Profile
Hyperfine Inc 19 Unlock Company Profile
Sony Group Corp 18 Unlock Company Profile
Hyperfine Research Inc 17 Unlock Company Profile
Terumo Corp 17 Unlock Company Profile
Johnson & Johnson 15 Unlock Company Profile
Neurophet Inc 14 Unlock Company Profile
General Electric Co 13 Unlock Company Profile
General Hospital Corp 12 Unlock Company Profile
Panasonic Holdings Corp 12 Unlock Company Profile
NPL Management Limited 11 Unlock Company Profile
Medtronic Plc 11 Unlock Company Profile
ADM Diagnostics LLC 10 Unlock Company Profile
Abbott Laboratories 10 Unlock Company Profile
Hologic Inc 10 Unlock Company Profile
Toshiba Medical Systems NV 9 Unlock Company Profile
Mayo Clinic 9 Unlock Company Profile
Hoya Corp 9 Unlock Company Profile
GE HealthCare Technologies Inc 8 Unlock Company Profile
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation 8 Unlock Company Profile
Beijing SenseTime Technology Development Co., Ltd. 8 Unlock Company Profile
Arizona Board of Regents 8 Unlock Company Profile
Healthy io Ltd 8 Unlock Company Profile
Fuel 3D Technologies Limited 8 Unlock Company Profile
Taipei Veterans General Hospital 8 Unlock Company Profile
Omniscient Neurotechnology Pty Ltd 8 Unlock Company Profile
Omron Corp 8 Unlock Company Profile
Medrad Inc 8 Unlock Company Profile

Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics

Heartflow is the leading patent filer in the field of AI-assisted MRI. Some other key patent filers include Siemens Healthineers, Fujifilm, Koninklijke Philips, Enlitic and IBM.

In terms of application diversity, Fuel 3D Technologies leads the pack, followed by NPL Management and Beijing SenseTime Technology Development. By geographic reach, Heartflow holds the top position, followed by Enlitic and Cleerly.

AI has the potential to augment radiology workflows in radiology in many ways. AI-assisted MRI can improve surgical and exam planning, image reconstruction, image analysis, and support clinical decision making. AI-assisted MRI is expected to become a new set of tools in the hands of the radiologist. Such use of AI is likely to be ubiquitous and somewhat invisible to the physician, blending into the background of clinical decision-making processes.

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the medical devices industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Medical Devices.

Premium Insights

From

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Blending expert knowledge with cutting-edge technology, GlobalData’s unrivalled proprietary data will enable you to decode what’s happening in your market. You can make better informed decisions and gain a future-proof advantage over your competitors.

GlobalData

GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.

GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.