The healthcare industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by telemedicine, real-time diagnostics, smart hospitals and access to digital therapies, and the growing importance of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), robotics and data management practices. In the last three years alone, there have been over 106,000 patents filed and granted in the healthcare industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Innovation in Healthcare: Plasma sterilisers.
However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilising and reaching maturity.
Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.
200+ innovations will shape the healthcare industry
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the healthcare industry using innovation intensity models built on over 443,000 patents, there are 200+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Within the emerging innovation stage, specimen collection devices, ultrasound imaging system, and automated laboratory systems are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Biological sampling devices, endoscopic ultrasound tomography, and NMR imaging systems are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are doppler ultrasound imaging and CT-guided surgery, which are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for the healthcare industry
Plasma sterilisers is a key innovation area in healthcare
Plasma sterilisation is a chemical method to destroy or remove all micro-organisms such as viruses, fungi, bacteria, and prions that may cause infection in humans. Because poisonous chemicals and expensive vacuum equipment are not needed for plasma sterilisation, the procedure is both affordable and safe for the environment. In comparison to conventional disinfection methods using pressured hot air, pressurised hot water vapour, or poisonous compounds, the cold atmospheric pressure plasmas of PDD discharge make the plasma disinfection extremely gentle.
GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 30+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established healthcare companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of plasma sterilisers.
Key players in plasma sterilisers – a disruptive innovation in the healthcare industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to plasma sterilisers
| Company | Total patents (2010 - 2021) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| Creo Medical Group | 96 | Unlock company profile |
| CINOGY | 91 | Unlock company profile |
| Plasmology4 | 43 | Unlock company profile |
| Cold Plasma Medical Technologies | 41 | Unlock company profile |
| Panasonic | 38 | Unlock company profile |
| Nanoguard Technologies | 30 | Unlock company profile |
| Fourth State Medicine | 24 | Unlock company profile |
| Linde | 24 | Unlock company profile |
| Koninklijke Philips | 23 | Unlock company profile |
| L'Oreal | 16 | Unlock company profile |
| Kotobuki Realty | 15 | Unlock company profile |
| Samsung Group | 15 | Unlock company profile |
| Boston Scientific | 13 | Unlock company profile |
| Anacail | 11 | Unlock company profile |
| Amsalp Biomedical | 11 | Unlock company profile |
| Nova Plasma | 10 | Unlock company profile |
| Sekisui Chemical | 9 | Unlock company profile |
| Agency For Defense Development | 9 | Unlock company profile |
| Apyx Medical | 9 | Unlock company profile |
| Creative Technologies | 8 | Unlock company profile |
| COLDPLASMATECH | 8 | Unlock company profile |
| 3M | 8 | Unlock company profile |
| Saraya | 8 | Unlock company profile |
| Otto Bock Holding | 8 | Unlock company profile |
| relyon plasma | 7 | Unlock company profile |
| Thermo Fisher Scientific | 7 | Unlock company profile |
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique | 7 | Unlock company profile |
| TheraDep Technologies | 7 | Unlock company profile |
| Krones | 6 | Unlock company profile |
| Hitachi | 6 | Unlock company profile |
| NGK Insulators | 6 | Unlock company profile |
| ERBE Elektromedizin | 5 | Unlock company profile |
| Plasmapp | 5 | Unlock company profile |
| Lohmann & Rauscher International | 5 | Unlock company profile |
| LG | 5 | Unlock company profile |
| Riedel Filtertechnik | 5 | Unlock company profile |
| Dragerwerk | 5 | Unlock company profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Creo Medical Group is one of the leading patent filers in the field of Plasma sterilisers. Some other key patent filers in the field include CINOGY, Plasmology4, Cold Plasma Medical Technologies and Panasonic.
In terms of application diversity, Amsalp Biomedical leads the pack, followed by Krones and ERBE Elektromedizin, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Cold Plasma Medical Technologies held the top position, while Creative Technologies and Nanoguard Technologies are in second and third spots.
In the future, the potential of Plasma sterilisers in medical and healthcare application is extremely broad because of low operating temperature, cheap non-toxic working gases, gentle treatment of sensitive surfaces that include living tissues and open wounds, blood coagulation as well as dental treatment. Since, live tissues and even open wounds are sensitive surfaces, plasmas can effectively disinfect them.
To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the healthcare industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Healthcare.
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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.
GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
