Monday, 13 June 2022 20:27

Huawei unveils new inventions that will revolutionize IA, 5G and user experience

Written by Evelyn Alas

Huawei has announced a number of key inventions as part of its biannual "Top 10 Inventions" awards during the "Expanding the Innovation Landscape in 2022" forum held at the company's headquarters in Shenzhen.

This award was conceived to give recognition to inventions that could create new product ranges, become important commercial functions of existing products, or generate considerable value for both the company and the industry.

The award-winning inventions range from a neural sum network that significantly reduces power consumption and circuit size to a revolutionary "optical iris" that provides optical fibers with a unique identifier.

It is designed to help operators manage network resources, thereby reducing the time and costs associated with broadband deployment.

The presentation was made in the context of intellectual property rights, the protection and sharing of which Huawei considers essential to the technology ecosystem.

"Protecting PI is fundamental to protecting innovation", said Huawei's chief legal officer Song Liuping. "We wish to license our patents and technologies to share our innovations with the world, as this will help expand the horizon of innovation, drive the advancement of the industry and improve technology for everyone", he said.

"Huawei is constantly evolving and continuously demonstrates to the world the value of China's IP," said Tian Lipu, president of the China office of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property.

By the end of 2021, Huawei had more than 110,000 active patents spread across more than 45,000 patent portfolios. It has more granted patents than any other Chinese company, has filed the highest number of patent applications with the EU Patent Office, and ranked fifth in terms of new patent grants in the United States.

For five consecutive years, Huawei has ranked first globally in terms of applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Alan Fan, head of Huawei's Intellectual Property Rights Department, said the value of the company's patents is widely recognized in the industry, especially for widespread standards such as mobile technology, Wi-Fi and audio/video codecs.

"Over the past five years, more than two billion smartphones have obtained 4G/5G patent licenses from Huawei. On the automobile side, about eight million connected vehicles licensed with Huawei patents are made available to consumers every year", Fan said.

Huawei is also actively collaborating with patent license management companies to offer "end-to-end" licenses for major standards.

"More than 260 companies accounting for one billion devices have licensed HEVC patents from Huawei through patent pools", Fan said, adding that the company is exploring the possibility of founding a new patent pool "to provide the industry with quick access to [Huawei's] patents for devices around the world."

Huawei is also exploring joint licensing programs for 5G patents with licensing experts and industry-leading patent holders.

Liu Hua, director of the China Office of the World Intellectual Property Organization, has praised Huawei's continued focus on innovation saying:

"We look forward to witnessing how Huawei continues to participate in high-level global competition, with innovation at its core."

For Manuel Desantes, former vice president of the European Patent Office, due to the immense number of changes currently taking place in the world, the number of registered patents or inventions is no longer the most important thing. "The IP system should ensure that the creations that deserve protection are those that bring real value", he said.

This is the third event focused on innovation and I+D that Huawei has organized on its innovation practices. Each year Huawei invests more than 10% of its sales revenue in I+D.

Over the past few years, it has invested more than CNY20 billion in basic research per year. In 2021, the company increased its I+D investment to CNY142.7 billion, accounting for 22.4% of its total revenue.

Both R&D expenditure and the percentage of I+D expenditure reached the highest levels in the past ten years. In terms of R&D expenditure, Huawei ranked second in the 2021 EU industrial R&D investment scoreboard. Over the past decade, Huawei's total I+D investment has exceeded CNY845 billion.