Elon Musk. Rate of Innovation vs Number of Patents

Elon Musk doesn’t believe in patents. He believes that the rate of innovation is what sets a company apart. If you keep innovating consistently, then, your competitors will not be able to catch up. You need to focus on creating a great product and consistently work on improving it. However, Tesla has so far 580 patents since the year of its founding, 2003. Let’s look into Tesla patents, rate of innovation, and how they interact to become an innovative company.

Tesla Patent Illustration. Designed by Author

The rate of innovation can actually be measured by the patents you hold. Countries with more patents are the most innovative and therefore, most developed nations. China applied for 68720 patents, the US for 59230 and Japan for 50520. Even without looking at these numbers, one would be able to guess this proportion roughly since China is now the biggest innovator in AI, renewable energy, electric vehicles and technology in general. It patiently copied the US innovation model for 20+ years while focusing on the long term technologies to be the world leader.