Health technologies remain structurally dominant
Health-related technologies continue to anchor patenting activity in Australia. In 2025, pharmaceuticals (3,715 applications), medical technology (3,331) and biotechnology (3,073) together accounted for 33.3% of all standard complete filings.
Over the past decade, the share of life sciences technologies has gradually deepened and remained structurally elevated relative to other fields. This reflects Australia’s role as an attractive market and source for high-value health innovations, including biologics, advanced therapeutics and medical devices. It also reflects the globalised nature of pharmaceutical development and portfolio protection.
Figure 2.5
Top 5 technology fields for standard patent filings in 2025, and fields with strong growth or decline1
Structural reallocation within major technology fields
The 2025 data reinforce longer-term structural shifts emerging since 2021, both across technology fields and within the country composition of those fields.
Post-pandemic moderation in Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
Computer technology declined by –10.1% in 2025, while digital communication also moderated relative to earlier peaks. These fields expanded rapidly between 2018 and 2021, coinciding with pandemic-era digital acceleration and scaling of cloud and AI systems. The recent easing appears consistent with post-peak normalisation, rather than structural retreat.
Uncertainty over what is patent eligible for software and computer implemented inventions is likely to have dampened filings in some digital and software-related fields. The recent Full Federal Court decision in Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Patents [2025] FCAFC 13 has provided increased certainty in the law. Filings for some types of computer-implemented inventions are likely to increase in 2026.
At the same time, the country mix within ICT has shifted. In digital communication, filings have become more geographically diversified. China’s share, which peaked at 44.1% in 2020, eased to 32.0% in 2025, reducing concentration in a single dominant source country.
Multi-year rise in energy and transport technologies
Electrical machinery, apparatus and energy (+12.8%) and transport (+9.1%) continued their upward trajectory in 2025, extending a trend visible since 2021. These increases align with global electrification, EV supply chains, battery technologies and industrial decarbonisation.
Within transport technologies, the country composition shifted materially in 2025. China’s share rose sharply from 9.7% in 2024 to 16.5% in 2025, while the United States share declined from 35.8% to 27.9%. This represents a significant rebalancing within a single year and is consistent with broader industrial repositioning toward electric vehicles and energy systems.
Longer-term country-technology realignment
Over the decade, as China-origin patent filings in Australia have expanded, their sectoral mix has shifted from an ICT-heavy profile toward life sciences, electrical machinery, transport and applied industrial technologies. The evolution mirrors China’s broader industrial orientation toward electric vehicles, batteries, biologics and advanced chemicals.
Australian resident applicants have increased their presence across pharmaceuticals, IT methods for management, computer technology and several smaller technology classes. This evolving country-technology footprint highlights Australia’s role not only as a recipient of foreign innovation, but increasingly as a source of new ICT, health and applied systems technologies.
Endnotes
- Focuses on high volume fields defined as classes in the top quartile for total number of applications received in 2025.