The medical devices industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation. Activity is driven by an 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 digitalisation. In the last three years alone, there have been over 450,000 patents filed and granted in the medical devices industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Artificial Intelligence in Medical Devices: Medical Imaging Informatics. Buy the report here.

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According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 550,000 patents to analyse innovation intensity for the medical devices industry, there are 150+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

Medical imaging informatics is a key innovation area in artificial intelligence

Medical imaging informatics is a part of biomedical informatics that is used to generate digital medical images and cater to their management, transfer, storage, distribution, perception, privacy, and security. Medical imaging informatics applies information technologies (IT) to improve the efficiency and reliability of medical services through data.

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 90+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established medical devices companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of medical imaging informatics.

Key players in medical imaging informatics – a disruptive innovation in the medical devices industry

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

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

Patent volumes related to medical imaging informatics

Company Total patents (2021 - 2023) Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies
Heartflow 450 Unlock Company Profile
Siemens 177 Unlock Company Profile
Koninklijke Philips 143 Unlock Company Profile
Fujifilm Holdings 79 Unlock Company Profile
Canon 74 Unlock Company Profile
CathWorks 73 Unlock Company Profile
International Business Machines 56 Unlock Company Profile
Applied Lifesciences & Systems 53 Unlock Company Profile
Stryker 45 Unlock Company Profile
Samsung Group 44 Unlock Company Profile
EBM 42 Unlock Company Profile
Cerebrotech Medical Systems 38 Unlock Company Profile
Medtronic 37 Unlock Company Profile
Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare 35 Unlock Company Profile
Synaptive Medical 35 Unlock Company Profile
Podimetrics 33 Unlock Company Profile
Venus Concept 32 Unlock Company Profile
Elekta 30 Unlock Company Profile
Lifetrack Medical Systems 29 Unlock Company Profile
Heuron 28 Unlock Company Profile
General Electric 24 Unlock Company Profile
Sony Group 23 Unlock Company Profile
Align Technology 21 Unlock Company Profile
Johnson & Johnson 21 Unlock Company Profile
LipoScience (formerly LipoMed) 20 Unlock Company Profile
Boston Scientific 19 Unlock Company Profile
Toshiba Medical Systems 18 Unlock Company Profile
CorVista Health 17 Unlock Company Profile
NuraLogix 17 Unlock Company Profile
Assistance Publique - Hopitaux de Paris 16 Unlock Company Profile
Konica Minolta 16 Unlock Company Profile
Estee Lauder 15 Unlock Company Profile
Myocardial Solutions 14 Unlock Company Profile
Circle Cardiovascular Imaging 14 Unlock Company Profile
Hitachi 14 Unlock Company Profile
Dental Monitoring 13 Unlock Company Profile
Surgical Information Sciences 13 Unlock Company Profile
BrainLAB 12 Unlock Company Profile
Fundacion para la Investigacion Biomedica del Hospital Gregorio Maranon 12 Unlock Company Profile
Digimarc 12 Unlock Company Profile
Toshiba 12 Unlock Company Profile
LVIS 11 Unlock Company Profile
UCB 11 Unlock Company Profile
SymphonyAI Group 11 Unlock Company Profile
Terumo 11 Unlock Company Profile
Covanos 10 Unlock Company Profile
Seno Medical Instruments 10 Unlock Company Profile
Tel Hashomer Medical Research Infrastructure and Services 10 Unlock Company Profile
Picterus 10 Unlock Company Profile
Wuxi Hisky Medical Technologies 10 Unlock Company Profile

Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics

Heartflow is one of the leading patent filers in the field of medical imaging informatics. Other leading patent filers include Siemens, Koninklijke Philips, Fujifilm Holdings, Canon, and CathWorks.

In terms of application diversity, Applied Lifesciences and System leads the pack, followed by Elekta and LVIS. By means of geographic reach, UCB holds the top position, followed by Applied Lifesciences and System and LVIS in the second and third spots, respectively.

Advancements in the field of medical imaging informatics will improve the quality of images, leading to better disease diagnosis and transforming imaging informatics. The increasing demand for faster and more accurate medical data extraction will result in a paradigm shift in imaging informatics.

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

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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.