Three other findings:

1.3 D printing is very promising

Based on 10 growth factors, 3D printing/additive manufacturing (AM) may be the future trend of industrial technology.In order to become a shooting star for "industry 4.0" in the next year or two, 3D printing follows up on augmented reality and cloud computing.What is particularly interesting is that 3D printing is not a specific network technology, because it is qualified as a new mode of production, so it is the hardware foundation. 

Cloud computing is clearly the first (now)

More than 1,600 related patents were issued in 2013 and 2014, the largest number of patent applications in the industry we analyzed.Although there were only 150 patents in 2010, the number jumped tenfold in 2012.In 2015, however, there were only 1, 400 patents, and a decline in Numbers may mean the technology has peaked.The figures for 2016 are sure to continue. 

IBM is the leading company for cloud computing patents.The company has already registered patents on security services, hybrid data backup and mobile device industrial load management, just some of the examples. 

The information physical system unexpectedly occupies the final position (the least number of patents)

According to the German federal education and research, the information physical system, or CPS, should be at the heart of "industry 4.0".It integrates the physical world of the online world and the industrial environment, thus being regarded as the center of industrial technology, while the number of patents is low.CPS fell to the last one, adding only 48 patents in the last five years.The reason for the fact may be that there is no obvious way to define it. 

More insights:

Augmented reality is like sitting on the express to fast-track, rising in the past few years, that the patent to increase the quantity into the top three industrial technology.German company Ubimax, for example, specialises in enhancing reality and wearable industrial solutions.One of its augmented reality devices is the "xPick" of the pick-by-vision solution.These smart glasses help to optimize the selection process and have been successfully tested by DHL in the Netherlands.They can now integrate with SAP EWM. 

Big data has been growing rapidly over the past two years, almost as much as the additive manufacturing / 3D printing. 

The number of patents on system security and humanoid robots is also quite low, but stable.Because safety is a basic requirement, the low number of system safety patents may be a problem affecting the development of the fourth industrial revolution. 

Looking ahead:

Assuming that patent development is an early indicator of the future of industrial technology, we now know what technologies are worth expecting.The explosive 3D printing technology and augmented reality will soon be seen in various scenarios.Cloud computing has reached its peak in terms of the number of patents developed, but there is still a long way to go before it is widely used in the industrial world.Such unanticipated patents, such as big data and big data, may soar to the equivalent of 3D printing.The best way to be an industrial company is to embrace four technologies that can be called the core of the fourth industrial revolution. 

However, a possible obstacle is the physical information system (CPS), and (IT) system security patent too little attention, which is both the key technology in the field of "4.0" industrial, IT is necessary to keep up with the rapid development of other technologies.