Corporate
TopIntellectual Property
Fundamentals
At Terumo, we regard intellectual property as a vital source of business competitiveness. By proactively creating, protecting, and leveraging intellectual properties that drives the advancement of healthcare, we strive to enhance our corporate value and contribute to sustainable growth. We also respect the intellectual properties of others by conducting thorough prior investigations and implementing appropriate measures, ensuring that we can continue to deliver our products and services to patients and medical settings around the world.
Patents Held
Here at Terumo, we enhance the value of our intellectual property both in quantity and quality, through in-house development, external collaboration, and M&As. As of the end of March 2025, the Terumo Group holds approximately 8,500 patents, of which around 2,400 are held by overseas subsidiaries.
The number of citations per invention—a widely recognized metric for assessing patent value—has been steadily increasing each fiscal year.
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This metric reflects how frequently Terumo’s inventions are cited as prior art in the course of examinations by patent offices, serving as an indicator of technological leadership and competitive influence.
In-house Invention Reward Programs
To deliver valuable products and solutions to the medical field, Terumo has established a range of programs that reward employees for their contributions to intellectual property. These include incentives for patent and design filings, confidential inventions such as manufacturing know-how, performance-based rewards for patents implemented in commercialized products. In April 2024, we introduced a new performance-based reward program, raising the maximum reward to 100 million yen for inventions utilized in new products that significantly enhance our business performance.
Terumo recognizes associates who consistently generate inventions over multiple years and contribute to product development by honoring them as "Terumo Excellent Inventors." Through this recognition, we affirm our commitment to supporting those who continue to embrace new technological challenges and drive innovation.
External Recognition
Terumo has received the invention awards listed in the table below in recognition of medical device innovations that have made significant contributions to society. Furthermore, according to Patent Result Co., Ltd., Terumo ranked second in two categories of the “2024 Medical Device Patent Rankings”: overall scale of its patent assets and its capability to lead innovations.
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Sourced from "https://www.patentresult.co.jp/" website (February 21, 2025).
National Commendation for Invention- Award History (Top Awards)
| Year | National Commendation for Invention | Award Name/Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | • The Prize of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology • The Distinguished Service Prize for Employment of Invention | Invention of injection needle used for insulin |
| 2022 | • The Prize of the Chairman of HATSUMEI KYOKAI (JIII) • The Distinguished Service Prize for Employment of Invention | Invention of closed-type infusion connector for medical use |
| 2023 | • The Prize of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology • The Distinguished Service Prize for Employment of Invention | Invention of a drug-eluting stent for coronary arteries that prevents coat layer detachment |