The consumer industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by taste, environmental sustainability, and convenience, as well as the growing importance of food safety, alternative proteins, and food waste reduction. In the last three years alone, there have been over 450,000 patents filed and granted in the consumer industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Innovation in Consumer: Artificial sweeteners. Buy the report here.

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Data Insights Innovation in Consumer: Artificial sweeteners

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However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilising and reaching maturity.

Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.

40+ innovations will shape the consumer industry

According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the consumer industry using innovation intensity models built on over 110,000 patents, there are 40+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

Within the emerging innovation stage, hydrogel dressings, dextrin-based compositions, and safety injection needles are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Cheese substitutes and beverage terpene sweetener are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are chewing gum compositions and anabolic muscle supplements, which are now well established in the industry.

Innovation S-curve for the consumer industry

Artificial sweeteners is a key innovation area in consumer

Artificial sweeteners are non-natural sugar substitutes that are added to food or beverages to make them taste sweet. These sweeteners are much sweeter than the same amount of table sugar and are thus required in very small amounts. Most artificial sweeteners claim to contain no calories and are thus preferred by health seekers.

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 40+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established consumer companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of artificial sweeteners.

Key players in artificial sweeteners – a disruptive innovation in the consumer industry

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.

Patent volumes related to artificial sweeteners

Ingredion is one of the leading patent filers in artificial sweeteners. Some other key patent filers in the artificial sweeteners space include PepsiCo, Cargill, Tate & Lyle, and Conagen. Recently, Tate & Lyle has announced an addition to its artificial sweetener portfolio: ERYTESSE Erythritol. The expansion increases the company’s capacity to assist clients in meeting the demand for healthier goods with less sugar and calories.

In terms of application diversity, Evolva Nutrition leads the pack, while Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings and Evolva Holding stand in the second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Kraft Heinz holds the top position, followed by Evolva Nutrition and Merisant.

While more customers throughout the world are embracing low-calorie food and drink, the market for artificial sweeteners as a whole is being driven by the availability of sugar replacements.

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the consumer industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Consumer.

GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.

GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.