Citation-based rankings emphasize highly cited papers, while patent data adds a complementary view of innovation activity and IP protection.

A new quality-patent metric clarifies what constitutes a high-quality patent to better identify genuine competitive advantages.

The tracker now offers head-to-head country comparisons for global patent filings, granted patents, and quality patents across technology categories, highlighting competitive positions.

Readers can request access or explore the Tracker online through ASPI’s provided links.

ASPI places the Tracker within its broader research-performance context, alongside the China Defence Universities Tracker and the China Little Giants Tracker.

The tracker spans 74 technologies across defence, space, AI, biotechnology, cyber, advanced materials, energy, and quantum, drawing from sources like Web of Science, ORCID, and the Research Organization Registry.

Category-level visuals provide high-level insights across broad technology groupings to aid quick trend interpretation.

The expansion includes two decades of patent history, enabling analysis of both recent and historical performance within each technology category.

ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker now includes patent analysis alongside citation rankings, covering more than 20 of the 74 tracked technologies with two decades of data.