New Clarivate Report Reveals Mainland China as Prominent Innovator in the Global Alcoholic Beverage Industry

IP intelligence from Clarivate also unveils a boom in online trade and an increase in demand for craft drinks

LONDON, Dec. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Clarivate Plc (NYSE:CCC), a global leader in providing trusted information and insights to accelerate the pace of innovation, today released a new report that explores the drivers, dynamism and state of innovation in the global alcoholic beverage industry.

'Distilling the IP dynamics of the alcoholic beverage industry' uncovers a significant geographic shift, with Mainland China emerging as a prominent contributor on both supply and demand sides. Mainland China has filed more trademark applications in alcoholic beverage categories, WIPO's Nice class 32 and 33, than the rest of the world combined since 2017, based on trademark intelligence from CompuMark^TM. Furthermore, Mainland China is a leading innovator across the alcoholic drinks intellectual property (IP) lifecycle with 30,645 inventions from 2000 to present according to data from Derwent World Patents Index^TM (DWPI), being far ahead of all other nations. The report further reveals the impact of changing consumer behavior on alcoholic beverage companies' branding and product development strategies. Consumers are showing a preference for craft drinks such as craft beer. In the United States for instance, craft beer sales rose 4% last year in spite of a drop in overall beer sales.[1] Craft beer demand is also boosting Mainland China's beer consumption. This surging demand is accelerating inventions in the beer category, led by innovators in Mainland China, Japan and the United States, with the latter surpassing Germany in 2016 to move into third place[2].

In another sign of the craft drinks trend, consumers in the United Kingdom have embraced gin from craft distilleries propelling gin back to popularity after years of falling consumption[3]. Today, there are more than 441 gin distilleries in the United Kingdom, more than double the number of five years ago.^[4] Trademark applications for gin have surged since 2016 and expected to triple from 1,012 in 2016 to over 3,000[5] by the end of this year, growing at a faster rate than other major alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, whisky and vodka.

Despite the global pandemic depressing on-premise alcohol sales, booming online sales means the market for alcoholic beverages is expected to increase from $515 billion last year to $528 billion at the end of 2020.[6] However most alcoholic beverage brands have not enhanced their web presence beyond a standard .COM homepage. Name spaces previously offered by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 2012 such as .GIN, .WHISKEY, .TEQUILA and .SCOTCH are yet to be acquired. This represents an un-tapped opportunity and the next TLD application window could offer forward-thinking distilleries an opportunity to own a name space.

Jeff Roy, President, IP Group, Clarivate, said, "The alcoholic beverage industry continues to adapt, evolve and flourish despite unpredictable market dynamics and changing consumer preferences. By tapping into the power of integrated insights from our trademark, patent, and case law data, we have an understanding of the innovation lifecycle and can project the likely trajectory of trends and their possible impact on the beverage industry. Relevant, timely IP intelligence and brand protection solutions can empower alcoholic beverage companies with commercial intelligence to help them identify new revenue opportunities, compete more effectively, and accelerate go-to-market with confidence."

Download the report 'Distilling the IP dynamics of the alcoholic beverage industry'.

About Clarivate

Clarivate™ is a global leader in providing solutions to accelerate the lifecycle of innovation. Our bold mission is to help customers solve some of the world's most complex problems by providing actionable information and insights that reduce the time from new ideas to life-changing inventions in the areas of science and intellectual property. We help customers discover, protect and commercialize their inventions using our trusted subscription and technology-based solutions coupled with deep domain expertise. For more information, please visit clarivate.com.

[1] Brewers Association, https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics-and-data/national-beer-stats/
[2] Source: Derwent World Patents Index
[3] Gin Foundry, "Sipsmith", https://www.ginfoundry.com/gin/sipsmith-gin/, Oct 13
[4] Mail Online, "Gin boom sees number of new distilleries in the UK rocket by 22% in a year – with more operating in England than Scotland", https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8062685/Gin-boom-sees-number-new-distilleries-UK-rocket-22-year.html, Mar 20
[5] Source: CompuMark
[6] Research and Markets, "Global Alcoholic Beverages Market Report (2020to 2030) - COVID-19 Impact and Recovery", https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/05/19/2035460/0/en/global-alcoholic-beverages-market-report-2020to-2030-covid-19-impact-and-recovery.html#:~:text=The%20global%20alcoholic%2Dbeverages%20market%20is%20expected%20to%20grow%20from,(CAGR)%20of%202.6%25.&text=The%20market%20is%20then%20expected,reach%20%24647.7%20billion%20in%202023, May 20