1956 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 1806 1809 1812 1815 1818 1821 1824 1827 1830 1833 1836 1839 1842 1845 1848 1851 1854 1857 1860 1863 1866 1869 1872 1875 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1896 1899 1902 1905 1908 1911 1914 1917 1920 1923 1926 1929 1932 1935 1938 1941 1944 1947 1950 1953 $2,000 200 Years of Innovation and Growth GDP per person (In 1990 US$) 1 st numbered US patent on the locomotive steam-engine 1 st man-made plastic invented, patented and trademarked as Parkesine Bessemer patents an Improvement of the manufacture of iron and steel Edison patents the Electric lamp Cooke and Wheatstone patent the Five needle telegraph 1 st transatlantic telegraph message Mendel’s scientific publication on plant hybridization Benz patents Vehicle with gas engine Ford mass-produces the Ford T Bell patents Improvement in telegraphy $3,000 Steam Locomotive 1836 Plastics 1856 Industrial Steelmaking 1856 Electric Lamp 1879 Electric Telegraph 1837 1858 Scientific Plant Breeding 1866 1905 Automobiles 1879 1908 Telephone 1876 Marconi patents Transmitting electrical signals 1 st industrial robot Deep Blue beats chess master Kasparov Just-in-time Manufacturing Toyota implements Kanban for lean production Sustainable Energy Solar cells are patented Barcode patented Bell Labs’ Semiconductor patent 1 st Commodore PET sold Fleming discovers Penicillin Mass production of Penicillin Jenkins patents “Transmitting pictures by wireless” Marie Curie wins her 2 nd Nobel Prize Nuclear plant APS-1 generates electricity for commercial use Santos-Dumont flies his 14-bis Wright brothers patent the Flying machine $5,000 $7,500 $10,000 $15,000 Radio 1897 Robotics 1954 1996 Supply Chain Innovations 1953 1957 1952 Semiconductors 1950 1977 Pharmaceuticals 1929 1947 Television 1925 Nuclear Energy 1911 1954 Airplanes 1906 ARPANET network deployed Scanning probe microscopy developed Bicycle with nanotubes frame in the Tour de France WWW is created at CERN 1 st mobile telephone call 1 st SMS sent Industrial 3D printers commercialized Low-cost 3D printers commercialized $20,000 $25,000 $30,000 Internet 1969 Nanotechnology 1981 2005 1991 Mobile Phone 1973 1992 3D Printing 1987 Photo: Smithsonian Institution 2009 Source: World Intellectual Property Report 2015 Infographic: InfographicWorld/WIPO First succesful high-yielding wheat hybrid Photo: Geni Photo: WIPO Photo: Rico Shen Photo: Wellcome Library, London Photo: Depositphotos.com Photo: Depositphotos.com Photo: Depositphotos.com Photo: Depositphotos.com Photo: John T. Daniels (US Library of Congress) Photo: Depositphotos.com Photo: Frank Hoffman, DOE Photo: © IWM (TR 1468) Photo: KUKA Roboter Mankind’s pursuit of innovative solutions has powered human progress and transformed our world. Two centuries of breakthrough innovations have seen a 15-fold growth in per capita incomes in frontier economies. WIPO’s 2015 World Intellectual Property Report looks at six transformative technologies, and explores the role of intellectual property in innovation.