Posted by Alumni from McKinsey
September 25, 2020
Patent documents are underexploited resources—not only for understanding the evolution of agricultural technology but also for assisting governments, companies, and academic institutions in the inventive process. 1 1. Leonidas Aristodemou and Frank Tietze, “Citations as a measure of technological impact: A review of forward citation-based measures,” World Patent Information, June 2018, Volume 53, pp. 39–44. More than 40,000 patents related to agricultural inputs have been granted in the past ten years. We find that a rigorous patent-review process could aid agricultural-input companies in their pursuit of innovation.Agricultural innovation is increasingly important given the need to feed a growing global population—ten billion people by 2050, two billion more than today. 2 2. Craig Hanson et al., Creating a sustainable food future: A menu of solutions to feed nearly 10 billion people by 2050, World Resources Institute, July 2019, wri.org. Worldwide, agricultural production... learn more