Utility Digital Twin Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (13 records) with 2024 (40) — 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 323 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the utility digital twin patent set covers
This landscape covers 323 published records matching digital twin constructs applied to water, power and gas distribution networks, filed between 2015 and the 2026-07-31 cut-off. The search string captures both explicit “utility digital twin” language and the broader combination of digital twin terminology with utility network, water distribution, power distribution or gas distribution network claims. Patent families, not raw document counts, are the unit used for the assignee ranking, which neutralises continuation filings and multi-jurisdiction duplicates.
Filings were negligible before 2021 and rose sharply through 2024, the last year the dataset can treat as filing-complete; 2025 and 2026 figures will keep revising upward as publication catches up with roughly an 18-month lag. Receiving-office data shows China and the United States as the two largest filing venues, with India, WIPO/PCT and Europe forming a secondary tier.
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Filing trend and technology composition
The trend line and IPC breakdown below are drawn directly from the 323 records in scope; class shares are calculated against the full record total and will sum to more than 100% because a single filing can carry several IPC subclasses.
From near-zero to a 2025 peak
Recorded filings moved from 0 in 2017 to a peak of 97 in 2025, though the most recent one to two years are understated by publication lag; the 2021-to-2024 span (13 to 40 records, +208%) is the cleanest read on real growth.
Data processing and AI classes lead
G06F covers 53.6% of the 323 records and H02J (power supply and grid systems) 38.4%, confirming that most filings frame the utility digital twin as a data or software construct layered onto grid infrastructure rather than a control-system invention in its own right.
Shares are the percentage of the 323 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Smart Water & Utility Infrastructure: Utility Digital Twin Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about smart water & utility infrastructure: utility digital twin patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
Techniques for generating scores and corrections for a digital twin representing a utility network
The filing describes bridges that transform data from multiple utility systems into a common relational format, a process that builds a digital twin of the utility network from that data, and a data quality service that scores the twin and can automatically apply corrections once an updated score clears a threshold.US11526638B1 — Bentley Systems, Incorporated — 2022-12-13
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20190294975A1 | Predicting using digital twins | 110 |
| 2 | US20200150508A1 | Building network | 96 |
| 3 | WO2018200702A1 | Tintable window system computing platform | 95 |
| 4 | WO2018200740A2 | Tintable window system for building services | 92 |
| 5 | WO2018200752A1 | Displays for tintable windows | 89 |
| 6 | US20200057421A1 | Tintable window system computing platform | 83 |
| 7 | CN119090490A | 基于人工智能的电力配电网自动化运维方法及系统 | 65 |
| 8 | US20210063836A1 | Building network | 48 |
| 9 | US20190294978A1 | Inferring digital twins from captured data | 48 |
| 10 | US11294254B2 | Building network | 46 |
Citation counts are a signal of influence within this searched corpus and favour older records; they are not a measure of current commercial importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once concentration, growth and technology composition are read together.
Leadership is present but not dominant
The leading assignee holds 28 records and the field drops to 15 by fifth place and 10 by tenth — a shallower gradient than in fields with a single dominant filer. Roughly half of all activity sits outside the ranked leaders entirely.
The field is young and still accelerating
Filing volume was effectively zero in 2017 and only reached double digits by 2021. The 2021-2024 tripling shows a technology still in its build-out phase rather than one approaching saturation.
Data-layer claims outweigh control-layer claims
More than half of records touch general digital data processing, while direct control-and-regulating claims (G05B) cover under a fifth. That imbalance suggests the twin-as-data-model is well-trodden ground while twin-driven control action is comparatively open.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to smart water & utility infrastructure: utility digital twin patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field still forming its centre of gravity, with data-layer claims well covered and control-layer, water-specific and gas-specific applications comparatively open.
Map the control-layer gap in detail
G05B coverage sits well below G06F and G06N, suggesting closed-loop control driven directly by a utility digital twin is less crowded than the twin-as-data-model itself.
Explore this branch in EurekaTrack grid-operator co-filing clusters
The strongest co-assignee pairs sit inside one grid operator's family of affiliates and regional branches, which is useful context before approaching that operator for licensing or partnership conversations.
Review assignee relationships in EurekaCommon questions on utility digital twin patents
This landscape identifies 323 published records matching utility digital twin claims across water, power and gas distribution networks, filed between 2015 and the 2026-07-31 data cut-off. The assignee ranking covers the full set of 100 ranked companies returned by the underlying search, not a curated top-50 or top-100 list. Because a single filing can carry several IPC classifications, technology-class counts in this dataset add up to more than the record total.
The leading assignee in this dataset holds 28 of the 323 records, with the ranking dropping to 15 records by fifth place and 10 by tenth. The top 5 assignees combined account for 31.3% of all records and the top 10 for 49.2%, meaning roughly half of all filing activity sits outside the ranked leaders in a long tail of smaller filers. Several of the top filers are affiliated grid-operator entities that co-file with their own regional branches and research institutes rather than with outside partners.
Yes. Recorded filings rose from 13 in 2021 to 40 in 2024, a +208% increase over that three-year span, after being effectively zero in 2017. The dataset shows a peak of 97 filings in 2025, but figures for 2025 and 2026 should be treated as provisional because patent publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months. The 2021-2024 window is the most reliable basis for judging real growth.
General digital data processing (IPC class G06F) appears on 53.6% of the 323 records, followed by power supply and grid systems (H02J) at 38.4%, business and administrative data processing (G06Q) at 31.9%, and AI-model computing (G06N) at 26.3%. Control and regulating systems (G05B) cover a comparatively small 17.6% of records. This pattern indicates most patented inventions frame the digital twin as a data or analytics layer rather than as a direct control mechanism for utility infrastructure.
The clearest gaps sit in closed-loop control driven directly by twin state (G05B coverage is well below the data-and-AI classes), and in applications specific to water and gas distribution networks rather than power grids, which dominate the receiving-office and assignee data. Sensor-fault correction feeding back into twin updates and cross-utility interoperability between water, power and gas twins are also thinner than the core data-modelling cluster. These branches are candidates for first claims because filing density there has not yet caught up with the software and AI layers.
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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.