Valeo has taken second place in France’s INPI industrial property institute rankings, with 1,034 patents published in 2019, confirming its strong capacity for innovation. The global tech major had in 2018 filed 1,355 patents, compared to 1,110 in 2017, retaining its No. 1 position for the third year running.
With innovation is at the heart of its strategy, Valeo has invested heavily in R&D over the last 10 years to develop technologies essential to reducing CO2 emissions and improving road safety. Its efforts have clearly paid off, as the Group was named the top patent filer in France from 2016 through to 2018.
With new patents filed with the INPI in 2019, Valeo’s innovations are now protected by a portfolio of more than 33,300 patents across the world.
12 new tech platforms
Drawing on its experience and investments R&D, Valeo says it has perfected 12 new technological platforms to profoundly transform its product portfolio and cement its position as a world leader in vehicle electrification and driving assistance systems. Now operational, these platforms allow Valeo to begin reaping the rewards of its innovation strategy.
Patents filed by Valeo in 2019 mainly concerned:
- 48V electrical systems for affordable vehicle electrification and hybridisation and new forms of electric mobility, an area in which Valeo is now the pioneer and leader, accounting for 40% of global order intake;
- Lighting systems, featuring in particular artificial intelligence;
- Onboard telematics systems to locate vehicles and assist drivers;
- Cleaning systems to ensure that the driving assistance sensors developed by Valeo, such as cameras and LiDARs, continue to operate optimally in all road conditions (rain, mud, fog, snow).
In March, Valeo was also ranked France’s second biggest patent filer with the European Patent Office (EPO) for 2019, with 539 patents filed (37th worldwide).
In 2019, Valeo’s Research and Development expenditure amounted to more than 2 billion euros (Rs 16,534 crore), or almost 13% of the Group’s original equipment sales. Valeo has 59 R&D centres worldwide including India and some 20,000 R&D engineers among its more than 114,000 employees.
Valeo-designed, Valeo-made high-tech products are at the heart of the three revolutions that are radically transforming the mobility industry: vehicle electrification, increasingly autonomous driving and digital mobility. The Group is a world leader in both high-voltage (through the Valeo Siemens eAutomotive joint venture) and low-voltage vehicle electrification solutions. It also has a global leadership position in driving assistance systems, with Valeo technology integrated in one in four vehicles worldwide.
In 2019, 57% of the Group’s original equipment sales were generated by technologies contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions (including Valeo Siemens eAutomotive) and 36% by technologies to improve road safety.
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