Wave and Tidal Energy: A Patent Landscape Study

Wave and tidal energy, recognized as vital renewable resources, harness the ocean's kinetic and potential power. This study aims to provide an in-depth patent analysis of the technological landscape within these sectors. We applied a dual approach: first, a descriptive analysis was conducted to explore patent publication trends, technology lifecycle stages, patent activity by country, top assignees, and IPC classifications. Our analysis provided a detailed overview of the sector's growth and the key players involved. Second, we utilized topic modeling, specifically BERTopic enhanced with large language models (LLMs), to identify and fine-tune key technolog-ical themes within the patent data. In this study, we identified seven distinct clusters each for wave and tidal energy using this approach. This method led to a novel categorization of the pa-tents, revealing latent themes within the patent data. Although our categorization differs from traditional methods, it provides deeper insights into the thematic focus of the patents, highlight-ing emerging trends and areas of innovation within wave and tidal energy technologies to better exploit and optimize ocean energy conversion infrastructure.