In recent years, with the advancement of intelligence in the new retail, new education, new office and other sub-sectors, and the cooperation of the upstream industry chain, the various technical application markets of electronic paper have grown rapidly and the scale has continued to increase. According to the forecast of RUNTO, the global electronic paper display market will reach US$11.3 billion in 2021, and will exceed US$70 billion by 2025, reaching US$72.3 billion, with a five-year compound growth rate of 59%.

2021-2025 Global Electronic Paper Display Terminal Market Scale Forecast

Source of data: RUNTO, unit: USD 100 million

Invention patents in the electronic paper industry account for nearly 80% in China
While the electronic paper application market is advancing by leaps and bounds, various upstream and downstream related companies, including diaphragm factories, backplane factories, module factories, and terminal brands, are increasing investment in technology and output of patents.

According to patent data compiled by RUNTO, since 2015, patents in the electronic paper industry have entered a stable period of application and authorization. Of the more than 3,000 invention patents applied since 2015 (excluding appearance and utility models, and global deduplication treatment), nearly 80% of them in China (including mainland China and Taiwan) have become invention patents in the electronic paper industry. country with the largest contribution. Among them, mainland China accounted for 72.09%, and Taiwan, China accounted for 7.63%.
Global distribution map of electronic paper invention patent applications from 2015 to 2021 (de-duplication)

Data source: collated by RUNTO, unit: %
Note: Statistics are made according to the deduplication rule that displays one published text for each application, and the latest text on the publication date is selected for calculation.

In terms of Chinese patents, in the six years from 2015 to 2020, except for the number of invention patent applications in 2020, which was only 253 due to the impact of COVID-19, the number of electronic paper invention patent applications in the other five years has remained stable at 400-550. The market research and development investment is stable and active.
The number of invention patent applications in China's electronic paper industry from 2015 to 2020

Data source: Compiled by RUNTO, unit: pieces

In addition to Yuantai and BOE, there are still many new applicants
As the technology of single-color electronic paper matures, the industry has started the research of three-color and color electronic paper. At the end of last year, Yuantai Technology, a major e-paper manufacturer, cooperated with Plastic Logic, a designer and manufacturer of flexible and non-glass e-paper displays, to jointly release the world's first flexible full-color e-paper solution, Iridis. The solution adopts Yuantai's advanced color electronic paper ACeP™ (Advanced Color ePaper) technology and Plastic Logic's OTFT (Organic Thin FilmTransistor) flexible organic thin film transistor backplane.

According to Chinese patent data statistics, Yuantai Technology and its acquired E Ink, and BOE Technology Group are far ahead in the number of applications, ranking the top two in the world. In addition to the two giants, at the same time, there are still many scientific research units, technical research institutes, and commercial companies that have newly entered the technical research field of the electronic paper industry, including universities, scientific research institutions, panel factories, module companies and other upstream and downstream, Industry-university-research related units. RUNTO defines applicants who have only submitted patent applications in the past 5 years as new entrants. UESTC and Soochow University ranked in the Top 10.
New Chinese patent applicants in the electronic paper industry from 2017 to 2021

Data source: Organized by RUNTO Unit: Pieces
Note: New entrant definition: Patent applications filed only within the past 5 years

Invention patents in the electronic paper industry are in the growth stage
RUNTO judges the life cycle of technology development based on changes in the number of patent applications and the number of applicants over time. Generally divided into 5 stages: germination, growth, maturity, decline, recovery.
Electronic paper invention patent technology life cycle

Data source: Organized by RUNTO Unit: Pieces

From the data of Chinese patents from 2015 to 2020, it can be seen that, except for 2020, electronic paper technology invention patents have shown a stable and large number of applications within 5 years, and there are still many new entrants from companies and scientific research institutions to participate in research and development. Li Yueheng, a senior analyst at RUNTO, believes that the patent life cycle of China's electronic paper industry is in the growth stage.

Next, it is foreseeable that there will be more and more application scenarios of electronic paper, and the expansion of demand for electronic paper will promote the rapid development of the industry formed by the combination of production, education and research. In the growing technology field, it is very suitable for participants to continue to increase resource investment and accelerate the implementation and mass production of new technologies.