The analysis, entitled Australian Solar Innovation – Losing Our Place in the Sun, was limited to Australian patents registered between 2003 and 2008, to emphasise recent innovation. 656 patents or patent applications were found covering a range of solar technologies, and patent filing data was used as a predictor of commercial innovation.

The report notes that while Australia has produced world-leading solar innovators, and while some of them remain in Australia, others have moved overseas, pointing to founder of Suntech Dr Zhengrong Shi, and Dr David Mills, formerly of the University of Sydney and founder the Californian company Ausra.

Photovoltaic power production is expected to grow 40 per cent in 2009. Germany, Japan, the United States and Spain are the major contributors to this growth. While solar power already provides around 2.2 per cent of Germany’s electricity capacity, the comparable figure for Australia is 0.15 per cent.

The report notes that increases in the total number of registered Australian solar patents, for which the filing rate doubled between 2003 and 2008, were entirely due to overseas applicants.

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The report also concludes that a truly significant new technology is likely to be protected by a number of different patents. Australian solar patent applicants filed an average of less than two patents each over this period, suggesting these applicants may struggle to make a major commercial impact.

The most popular area for Australian solar patents was solar infrastructure, followed by solar hot air and water. In comparison, the rest of the world predominantly filed patents in the area of solar cells. New South Wales was found to be leading Australia in terms of solar innovation, filing almost half of the solar patent applications during the designated period. Leading Australian applicants include Victorian-based Solar Systems, the University of New South Wales, Rheem Australia, the University of Sydney, Solar Heat and Power, Dyesol and Origin Energy.

The report looks to recent Federal Government announcements to propel solar innovation, including the $1.4 billion to build flagship solar plants and $465 million to support the commercialisation and deployment of renewable technologies.