The consumer industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by environmental sustainability, health and wellness, and taste and the growing importance of food safety and transparency, and personalised nutrition. 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: Fatty oil extraction. Buy the report here.
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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 nicotine extraction are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Allergy alleviating foods, textured vegetable protein, and encapsulated proteins are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are whey protein compositions and anabolic muscle supplements, which are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for the consumer industry
Fatty oil extraction is a key innovation area in consumer
The recovery of fats from oil-bearing tissues can take place through three methods — rendering, extraction with volatile solvents, and pressing through mechanical presses. These processes differ in mechanical simplicity.
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 10 companies, spanning technology vendors, established consumer companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of fatty oil extraction.
Key players in fatty oil extraction – 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 fatty oil extraction
| Company | Total patents (2021 - 2023) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| Royal DSM | 72 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Bayer | 50 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Shell plc | 24 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Alfa Laval | 15 | Unlock Company Profile |
| HRD | 13 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Kao | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Neste | 8 | Unlock Company Profile |
| John Bean Technologies | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Martek Biosciences | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek | 5 | Unlock Company Profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Royal DSM is one of the leading patent filers in fatty oil extraction. Some other key patent filers include Bayer, Shell, Alfa Laval, and HRD.
In terms of application diversity, Royal DSM leads the pack. Neste and Kao stood in the second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Martek Biosciences held the top position, followed by Royal DSM and Shell.
Fatty oil extraction is an important application in the food industry, especially nutraceuticals. As consumers are seeking more wellness products, this process will potentially become more refined in the future with greater use of technology. To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the consumer industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Consumer.
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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.
