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Infosys has increased its patent filings by 50 per cent over FY11.
During the 2012 fiscal, the company, in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said it has filed 143 unique patent applications in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Indian Patent Office. These patents were filed through Infosys Labs.
When compared with FY 2011, Infosys Labs' IP cell had filed 91 patent applications, which is about 50 per cent less than its FY12 filings.
Further, Infosys spent $140 million in R&D expenses, which is an almost 100 per cent increase over FY10, when the company spent a mere $92 million on R&D.
Additionally, the company said in the filing that in FY12 it was issued 47 patents by the USPTO. During the recently announced fourth quarter results, Infosys CEO, Mr S.D. Shibulal, had told Business Line that the company was working on a new model wherein products and platforms would contribute 30 per cent of its revenues.
IP thrust
This, coupled with IP creation, would drive its growth forward. Infosys last month said it will grow its Product Research and Development Centre in India.
The company plans to double its team from 500 to 1,000 engineers by 2014 and the product R&D centre plans to create intellectual properties around Infosys products and platforms, leveraging technologies in the areas of cloud computing, mobility, analytics, and social media.
Infosys is currently working on 10-12 products in supply chain, healthcare and other areas. According to a Zinnov Management Consulting study, the number of patents filed in India increased at an average of 11 per cent per year for the last three years to reach more than 36,000 patents annually.
In comparison, China, in 2009, filed for 300,000 patents and plans to file one million patents by 2015. Similarly, companies such as IBM have spent $70 billion since 2010 on R&D and average about 5,000 patents every year.
>venkatesh.ganesh@thehindu.co.in
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