Circular Design Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- 53.4% concentration. The top 5 assignees hold 167 of 313 records in scope — over half the field sits with a handful of filers.
- Filing has plateaued, not grown. 2021 to 2024 filings moved from 23 to 22, a -4% change over the complete three-year window.
- Printed matter dominates the classification mix. B42D (books & special printed matter) touches 21.1% of all 313 records, well ahead of any other subclass.
Filing growth compares 2021 (23 records) with 2024 (22) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 313 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This review covers 313 published records filed or published between 2015 and 2026 that combine circular design or lifecycle assessment language with terms like life cycle inventory, material circularity, product design, environmental impact, and waste handling. The scope spans robotics-adjacent cleaning devices, printed security substrates, water and waterway engineering, and medical device end-of-life design — a broader mix than the topic label alone suggests. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any trend understate real filing activity.
Filing activity peaked in 2019 at 62 records and has settled into a lower, comparatively flat band since. Concentration is high: the leading assignee alone accounts for 63 of the 313 records, and the top 10 combined reach 64.9% of the field. Receiving-office data shows the United States as the dominant filing venue, with Europe, India and the WIPO PCT route each carrying a meaningful share.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 313-record dataset: filing activity by year, and the IPC subclasses that records fall into. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, the subclass shares add up to more than 100% of the record total.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings ran from 15 in 2017 to a peak of 62 in 2019, then eased. The 2021-2024 window, the last stretch that can be treated as complete, moved from 23 to 22 filings — a -4% change, essentially flat rather than a clear decline. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still filling in as publications catch up with filing dates.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
B42D (books and special printed matter) is the largest single subclass at 21.1% of all 313 records, followed by A61L (sterilising and disinfecting) at 10.5%, and A47L (cleaning and washing appliances) and A61B (diagnosis and surgery) each at 9.3%. Water and waterway-related classes (C02F, E02B) each sit at 6.1%, and implant-related A61F at 5.8%. The spread across cleaning, water treatment, medical devices and printed substrates confirms this field is defined by application-level circularity claims rather than a single core technology.
Shares are the percentage of the 313 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Circular Design & Lifecycle Assessment Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about circular design & lifecycle assessment patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited records
Systems and methods for analysis and design software to enable a sustainable circular economy of multilayer barrier films
A software tool for analysis of the economic and global warming impact of multilayer barrier films enables the design of a sustainable circular economy for the multilayer barrier films is disclosed herein. The tool can provide circular economy analysis for a plurality of different plastic types and various potential end of life scenarios.Filed by Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University, published 2026-04-23. Illustrates a shift toward software-based lifecycle and end-of-life modelling tools rather than physical product redesign.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20110202175A1 | Mobile robot for cleaning | 530 |
| 2 | US20090281661A1 | Application of localization, positioning & navigation systems for robotic enabled mobile products | 382 |
| 3 | US8452450B2 | Application of localization, positioning and navigation systems for robotic enabled mobile products | 177 |
| 4 | US8961695B2 | Mobile robot for cleaning | 121 |
| 5 | WO2009132317A1 | Application of localization, positioning & navigation systems for robotic enabled mobile products | 115 |
| 6 | US20110153081A1 | Robotic Floor Cleaning Apparatus with Shell Connected to the Cleaning Assembly and Suspended over the Drive S… | 107 |
| 7 | US20110160903A1 | Articulated Joint and Three Points of Contact | 69 |
| 8 | US20150158174A1 | Mobile robot for cleaning | 48 |
| 9 | WO2005001845A2 | Fusion apparatus and methods | 48 |
| 10 | US9725013B2 | Robotic floor cleaning apparatus with shell connected to the cleaning assembly and suspended over the drive s… | 44 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and favour older records; they are not a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the ranking, trend and classification data are read together.
The field is top-heavy
A single assignee holds 63 records, and the top five combined reach 167 of 313 records in scope. New entrants filing broad circular-design claims are likely to run into prior art from a small set of incumbents rather than a diffuse field.
Growth has flattened, not collapsed
Filings moved from 23 in 2021 to 22 in 2024, a marginal decline over the last complete three-year window. That reads as a maturing claim space rather than a shrinking one — high filing density earlier in the period means much of the obvious claim territory is already occupied.
Printed substrates lead the classification mix
B42D (books and special printed matter) is the single largest IPC subclass touched, ahead of sterilising equipment, cleaning appliances and surgical devices. This points to security document and packaging substrate design as a filing hotspot distinct from the physical recycling processes the topic name implies.
The US is the dominant filing venue
The United States leads receiving offices with 107 records, ahead of the EPO at 48 and India at 41. A meaningful share also routes through the WIPO PCT system, suggesting applicants in this space frequently keep multi-jurisdiction options open rather than filing nationally only.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to circular design & lifecycle assessment patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the field is open
The assignee ranking covers 100 companies drawn from the 313 records in scope. Filing is concentrated at the top, but the co-assignee and momentum data suggest most of that concentration sits with a small number of long-standing filers rather than active, fast-moving programmes.
One assignee holds a fifth of the field
The leading assignee's 63 records is more than five times the fifth-place count of 12, and over ten times the tenth-place count of 5 — a steep drop-off rather than a gradual one.
Collaboration is limited and narrow
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset. The strongest pairing, at 8 shared records, links two printed-security-document filers, suggesting collaboration in this field clusters around specific product niches rather than spanning the wider circular-design theme.
Top filers show no recent-year activity
Every assignee tracked for recent-year momentum, including the field leader, shows zero filings in the latest year. Given the 18-month publication lag, this understates real activity, but it also means leadership in the historical ranking should not be read as a signal of current filing intensity.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions SA | 0 | — |
| 206 ORTHO | 0 | — |
| DE STRULLE RONALD | 0 | — |
| KBA-NotaSys SA | 0 | — |
| iRobot Corp | 0 | — |
| Technical University of Denmark | 0 | — |
| Signify Holding BV | 0 | -100% |
| Evolution Robotics Inc | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with clear incumbents in printed substrates and cleaning devices, and comparatively open ground in software-based lifecycle modelling. The next steps depend on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate or identifying a filing gap.
Map claims against the top assignees
Before drafting in cleaning appliances or printed substrate space, check granted claim scope from the leading assignees identified in the ranking, since over half of all records in scope sit with the top five filers.
Explore assignee claims in EurekaTrack the software-modelling branch
The representative 2026 filing on multilayer barrier film lifecycle software suggests a newer branch distinct from the physical-recycling core of this dataset, worth monitoring for near-term competitive filings.
Set up monitoring in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
This dataset contains 313 published records covering 2015 through 2026, drawn from a search combining circular design and lifecycle assessment terms with product design, material circularity, and waste-handling language. The true global figure is likely somewhat higher once records outside this specific search string are counted, and the most recent one to two years are understated because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months. Treat 313 as the scope of this particular search rather than an absolute count of all filings in the space.
Filing is concentrated: the top five assignees together hold 167 of the 313 records in scope, or 53.4% of the field, and the single leading assignee accounts for 63 records on its own. The drop-off is steep rather than gradual — fifth place holds 12 records and tenth place holds only 5. Names span printed security document manufacturers, robotics and cleaning device makers, and university research groups, reflecting the breadth of the underlying search scope.
Over the last complete three-year window, 2021 to 2024, filings moved from 23 to 22 records, a -4% change that reads as roughly flat rather than a clear growth or decline trend. The dataset's overall peak year was 2019 at 62 records, with lower activity since. Figures for 2025 and 2026 should not be used to judge direction, since publication lag means recent years always look artificially low until later filings catch up.
The IPC classification data shows the field is spread across several distinct application areas rather than one core technology. Books and special printed matter (B42D) is the largest single subclass at 21.1% of all 313 records, followed by sterilising and disinfecting equipment, cleaning appliances, and surgical or diagnostic devices, each in the 9-11% range. Water and waterway engineering classes and implant-related classes each account for a smaller but still notable share, meaning a search for this topic pulls in packaging, medical device and water treatment filings alongside more conventional recycling technology.
The recent-year momentum data shows every tracked leading assignee, including the field leader, recorded zero filings in the latest year, which combined with thin co-assignee collaboration (only 10 pairs across the dataset) suggests limited active competitive pressure at the frontier right now. Software-based lifecycle and end-of-life modelling tools, illustrated by the representative 2026 filing on multilayer barrier film circular economy software, appear to be a newer branch distinct from the physical-recycling core of the field. Sub-areas like water-reuse circularity for cleaning appliances and implant material take-back design also carry comparatively thin coverage relative to the dense printed-substrate and cleaning-appliance clusters.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.