E-Textile Manufacturing Scale-Up Patent Snapshot 2026
The e-textile manufacturing scale-up space is a growth-stage field with a small but highly concentrated corpus: Koninklijke Philips NV holds the dominant position, and the top five filers account for nearly two-thirds of activity among the hundred largest filers. The field expanded sharply in the recent multi-year window, though annual volume has eased from its 2022 peak and publication lag further understates the most recent years.
Philips leads a tightly held, early-growth corpus
Koninklijke Philips NV holds the top position in this evidence snapshot, with 21 patent records, nearly twice the count of the second-ranked Sarnoff Corp at 12 patent records. The top five applicants — Philips, Sarnoff Corp, Porcher Industries, the University of Alberta, and Philadelphia University — together account for 65% of the ranked applicants visible in this query’ combined total.
The tier gap between the leader and the rest is substantial: Philips’s count is nearly twice that of Sarnoff and more than double that of third-ranked Porcher Industries at 9 patent records. This structure is typical of a nascent field where first movers have not yet faced significant competitive pressure.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Koninklijke Philips NV | 21 | |
| 2 | Sarnoff Corporation | 12 | |
| 3 | Porcher Industries | 9 | |
| 4 | The Governors of the University of Alberta | 8 | |
| 5 | Philadelphia University | 7 | |
| 6 | Van Os Koen | 5 | |
| 7 | Signify Holding BV | 4 | |
| 8 | Texavie Technologies Inc | 4 | |
| 9 | BANG & OLUFSEN AS | 3 | |
| 10 | Honda Motor Co Ltd | 2 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Shenzhen Grandsun Electronics Co Ltd | 2 | |
| 12 | Van Pieterson Liesbeth | 2 | |
| 13 | Raytheon Company | 1 | |
| 14 | Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences | 1 | |
| 15 | Chandigarh University | 1 | |
| 16 | Zeper Wouter Bastiaan | 1 | |
| 17 | Industrial Technology Research Institute | 1 | |
| 18 | KOREA ADVANCED INST OF SCI & TECH | 1 | |
| 19 | Cornelissen Hugo Johan | 1 | |
| 20 | Khalsa Chhail Pradhansingh | 1 |
Philips’s position, supported by a dense cluster of co-inventor collaborations, suggests a deliberate platform strategy spanning printed-circuit integration and woven-fabric construction. Challengers such as Porcher Industries and the University of Alberta have staked out differentiated technical ground — weaving and biomedical sensing, respectively — which limits direct overlap with the leader.
The most recent 18–24 months are subject to publication lag and are likely under-represented in the corpus; the competitive picture should be revisited as pending applications publish. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A 2022 activity surge and a technology mix anchored in printed circuits and weaving
The filing trend and technology composition together reveal both the growth trajectory of the field and the visible technical approaches that incumbents are protecting.
Annual filing trend
Activity was negligible through 2018, accelerated sharply into 2019, collapsed in 2020–2021, then surged to a peak in 2022 before easing in 2023. The 2024–2026 bars reflect publication lag and should not be read as a real decline. On a three-year-over-three-year basis the field posted 283% growth, confirming genuine expansion despite the uneven annual cadence.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
Printed circuits and assemblies (H05K) and woven fabrics and weaving (D03D) are the two visible branches, reflecting the core challenge of embedding electrical function into textile substrates at scale. Outerwear and garments (A41D) and yarn texturing (D02G) rank next, while biomedical sensing (A61B) and connectors (H01R) represent smaller but distinct application clusters. The breadth of the IPC mix — spanning textile engineering, electronics, coatings, and healthcare informatics — signals that scale-up is a cross-disciplinary problem with no single visible solution path.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Printed electronic textile component
The drapable electronic component comprises a protective layer formed of a textile and a protective polymer layer coating one side of the textile, an electronic layer deposited on the textile on the other side of the textile and formed by printing a conductive, semiconductor or dielectric ink; the textile is a fabric obtained by weaving continuous yarns, it… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
Open this patent in Eureka →| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plural layer woven electronic textile, article and… | 396 |
| 2 | Woven electronic textile, yarn and article | 271 |
| 3 | Plural layer woven electronic textile, article and… | 184 |
| 4 | Woven electronic textile, yarn and article | 148 |
| 5 | Electronic textile and method for determining a fu… | 78 |
| 6 | Electronic textile and method of manufacturing an … | 69 |
| 7 | Electronic textile, article and method | 52 |
| 8 | Plural layer woven electronic textile, article and… | 51 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural observations — maturity, concentration, collaboration, and geography — define the entry and differentiation options available to new participants.
Growth stage, easing from a 2022 peak
The field is classified as Growth, with three-year filings well above the prior three-year window at 283% growth. Annual volume peaked in 2022 and has eased since, though publication lag distorts the most recent years. This combination — multi-year expansion with a visible peak — suggests the field is transitioning from early experimentation toward selective scale-up investment rather than broad exploratory patenting.
Growth stageTop five hold 65% of the leading-filer total
The top five applicants account for 65% of the combined total among the ranked applicants visible in this query, and a single entity — Koninklijke Philips NV — commands 21 patent records. This level of concentration in a small overall corpus means that a new entrant filing a focused portfolio in an adjacent branch could quickly become a recognizable player. The mid-tier (Sarnoff Corp at 12, Porcher Industries at 9) leaves a visible gap between the leader and the rest.
High concentrationPhilips anchors the co-filing network
The most active co-filing pairs both involve Koninklijke Philips NV: Bhattacharya Rabin collaborated with Philips on 7 joint filings, and Van Os Koen on 5. Van Pieterson Liesbeth and Philips co-filed on 2 occasions. This hub-and-spoke structure indicates that Philips has absorbed key individual inventors into its IP development process, which may limit their availability as independent collaborators for other organisations.
Hub-and-spokeUS and EPO are visible in; Asia is a minor presence
The United States is the leading filing jurisdiction with 22 patent records, followed by Europe (EPO) with 18 and WIPO (PCT) with 14. Japan has 6 records and China only 4, a notably low figure for a manufacturing-intensive technology. This Western-heavy distribution suggests that Asian manufacturers have not yet entered the space aggressively, which may represent either an opportunity or a sign that scale-up activity is occurring outside the patent system in those markets.
US/EP visibleGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| BHATTACHARYA RABIN | Koninklijke Philips NV | 7 |
| Van Os Koen | Koninklijke Philips NV | 5 |
| Van Pieterson Liesbeth | Koninklijke Philips NV | 2 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Koninklijke Philips NV
Philips holds 21 patent records, the largest position in the corpus, concentrated in printed circuits and assemblies (H05K 1 and H05K 3) and woven fabrics (D03D 15). The co-inventor collaboration network — spanning Bhattacharya Rabin (7 joint filings) and Van Os Koen (5) — suggests the portfolio was built through sustained internal development rather than acquisition. Momentum data does not flag a recent surge for Philips, implying its position is established rather than accelerating.
patent records: 21Porcher Industries
Porcher Industries holds 9 patent records and is flagged as a new entrant in the momentum data, with all 9 of its recent records filed in the most recent window. Its technical focus sits entirely within woven fabrics and weaving (D03D 1, D03D 13, D03D 15), which is differentiated from Philips’s printed-circuit emphasis. As a specialist textile manufacturer entering from the fabric side rather than the electronics side, Porcher represents a structurally distinct challenger with a credible manufacturing scale-up path.
patent records: 9Frequently asked questions
The corpus in scope contains 32 patent families. This is a small but focused dataset; the limited size reflects the nascent stage of dedicated scale-up IP, distinct from the broader e-textiles field.
Koninklijke Philips NV leads with 21 patent records, nearly double the count of second-ranked Sarnoff Corp at 12 patent records. Philips’s position is supported by a co-inventor collaboration network and a dual focus on printed-circuit integration and woven-fabric construction.
Yes, on a multi-year basis. The most recent three-year window posted 283% growth over the prior three-year window. Annual volume peaked in 2022 and has eased since, though the most recent years (2024–2026) are understated by publication lag and should not be read as a real decline.
Printed circuits and assemblies (H05K) and woven fabrics and weaving (D03D) are the two highest-count branches, reflecting the core integration challenge. Outerwear and garments (A41D) and yarn texturing and crimping (D02G) rank next. Medical sensing (A61B) and connectors (H01R) are smaller but distinct clusters.
The United States leads with 22 patent records, followed by Europe (EPO) at 18 and WIPO (PCT) at 14. Japan has 6 records and China only 4, indicating limited Asian filing activity in this specific scale-up segment to date.
Two branches stand out as relatively sparse given their technical relevance: connectors and current collectors (H01R, 10 patent records, 4% share) and conductive coatings and inks (C09D, 8 patent records, 3% share). Both address recognised manufacturing scale-up bottlenecks and have plausible entry paths for organisations with adjacent expertise.
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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.
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