All posts tagged: innovation

Apple’s Patent Grants Declined in 2025 as Innovation Slows

Apple’s Patent Grants Declined in 2025 as Innovation Slows

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Apple’s U.S. patent activity declined sharply in 2025 amid a broader slowdown in patent filings, according to newly released data from IFI CLAIMS Patent Services. The data shows that Apple was granted 2,722 U.S. patents in 2025, down from 3,082 in 2024, a year-over-year decline of roughly 12% that pushed the company down two positions to sixth place in IFI’s annual ranking of the top 50 recipients of U.S. patent grants. The shift marks a notable change for Apple at a time when its spending on artificial intelligence, silicon design, and software continues to expand, but it also reflects a wider contraction in patent activity across the United States. Total U.S. patent grants in 2025 fell to 323,272, a decline of less than 1% from the previous year, while U.S. patent applications dropped more steeply, falling 9% to 393,344. IFI noted that the decline in applications represents the lowest level since 2019, following a record high in 2024. The data is compiled directly from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and forms the basis of …

Advancing innovation and scale-up with DRIVE35 and CAM

Advancing innovation and scale-up with DRIVE35 and CAM

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Julian Hetherington, Transformation Director at the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC), considers the UK government’s new funding initiatives, and their potential to accelerate research and support industry innovation. The Department for Business and Trade recently announced new funding initiatives, Driving Research and Investment in Vehicle Electrification (DRIVE35) and the Connected Automated Mobility (CAM) Pathfinder programme. Both are part of the government’s Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan and the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, to ensure innovation in the sector not only continues but accelerates. Simpler and easier to access DRIVE35 completely reinvents the existing funding ecosystem. The funding journey has never been well-defined or easy to access. Although a new programme, it is built on a legacy of experience and consultation with industry. The ultimate goal is to maintain and grow vehicle manufacturing in the UK, safeguard highly skilled jobs, support innovation, and establish a UK-based, world-leading, globally competitive supply chain for zero-emission technologies, encouraging direct investment and generating significant export revenue. Transition to zero emissions With a broader scope, this revised funding stream provides more support …

Life in the gray: why gambling innovation stems from unregulated areas

Life in the gray: why gambling innovation stems from unregulated areas

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Prediction markets are the latest in a long line of examples of how gambling innovation takes root in the gray areas. Major prediction markets are embroiled in lawsuits across the country, with some states like Arizona banning some operators altogether. State governments argue that the services are sidestepping necessary gambling licensing laws, while prediction markets maintain they shouldn’t be subject to state-level regulation. While there are some ways that prediction markets mimic traditional gambling, especially sportsbooks, there are also clearly ways that they are innovating. Traditional gambling operators wouldn’t offer so many entertainment or political bets – if any at all. Local betting shops don’t offer odds on what a tech CEO is going to say in the next all-hands meeting. These types of off-the-wall bets are attracting a new crowd who wouldn’t typically be betting. Speaking to Sigma, CEO and founder of Yield Sec Ismail Vali noted that those under 30 are the most responsive to prediction markets and their current affairs-style event contracts. “Under-30s don’t think they’re gambling,” he said. “They genuinely believe …