Green innovation is gaining momentum worldwide, with new data from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) highlighting a significant rise in green technology development. The latest insights show that green technology patent families have nearly quadrupled over the past two decades, reaching more than 412,000 in 2023 and accounting for 18.2% of all patent families.
The report highlights particularly strong growth in smart energy and grid technologies, energy storage and air pollution control, which together accounted for more than 40% of green technology patent families in 2021–2023. It also introduces the new WIPO Green Technology Inventory for Statistical Use (WIPO-GTIS), providing a harmonised framework to track and better understand the evolution of green innovation across different technology fields
For CIRCLE, these trends underline the importance of advancing innovative technologies that connect environmental challenges with new industrial opportunities. By developing an industrial-scale biorefinery that converts food waste into valuable bio-based products, including lactic acid, lactate salts and PLA-based materials, CIRCLE is contributing to the development of circular solutions that can support the transition towards more resource-efficient and sustainable production systems.
