Mapping critical technology research, patents and companies

10 capability groups and 47 capabilities, from advanced materials to space: who discovers each technology, who patents it and who makes it. 2.1m papers and 4.4m patent families, 2020–2024.

5.3m
Research papers
12.0m
Patent families
1,610
Companies

Capability groups

The ten technology families of the framework and the capabilities in each. Papers and patent families are for 2020–2024.

Biotechnology & Health Technologies

5 capabilities · 152.3k papers · 445.3k patent families

The capacity to read, write, make and deploy biology: genomics and biological data, engineering biology, biomanufacturing, radioisotope medicine, and the therapeutics and countermeasures that protect the population.

Biotechnology & Health Technologies →

Connectivity, Cyber & Trust Technologies

5 capabilities · 104.4k papers · 785.1k patent families

The capacity to carry, secure and trust information: the optical and wireless frontier, the networks that survive infrastructure loss, the technologies that defend systems and data, and the technologies that establish digital trust.

Connectivity, Cyber & Trust Technologies →

Advanced Materials & Manufacturing

7 capabilities · 328.6k papers · 287.7k patent families

The capacity to design, make and scale the materials and manufacturing processes on which advanced industry and defence depend, from structural composites to energetic chemistry and the additive, precision and process technologies that turn matter into product.

Advanced Materials & Manufacturing →

The capacity to build, apply and govern artificial intelligence: the models, their application across the economy and the state, and the safety, security and evaluation capacity that makes them usable.

The capacity to master the technologies of reach, speed and presence beyond the atmosphere: launch and reusability, advanced propulsion through hypersonic flight, and the satellite and constellation technologies that put systems on orbit.

Three bodies of evidence

Each capability is read across research, patents and companies: who discovers the technology, who protects the inventions and who makes and supplies it.