Patents for Humanity

Participating patent owners or licensees submit applications describing how they've used their patented technology or products to address humanitarian challenges for the less fortunate. Applications compete in five categories of global challenges:

• Medicine—any medical-related technology such as medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, or medical devices.
• Nutrition—technologies which improve nutrition such as higher yield crops, more nutritious food sources, food preservation, storage, or preparation.
• Sanitation—improving lives by addressing environmental factors such as clean water, waste treatment, air pollution, and toxic substances.
• Household energy—technologies providing power to energy-poor homes and communities for household needs like lighting, cooking, and heating.
• Living standards—technologies that raise living standards to empower people to escape poverty, such as literacy, education, communications, information delivery, access to markets, and microfinance.

Judging criteria

Applications will be judged by one of the following two sets of criteria, depending on how their technology benefits the less fortunate:

Humanitarian use

Criteria used for those applying eligible technologies to positively impact a humanitarian issue, focusing on demonstrable real-world improvements:

1. Subject matter—the applicant's technology, which is claimed in a U.S. utility patent in force at the time, or a pending U.S. utility patent application, effectively addresses a recognized humanitarian issue.

2. Target population—the applicant's actions target an impoverished population affected by the humanitarian issue.

3. Contribution—the applicant took meaningful actions to make the technology more available for humanitarian uses. This only includes actions taken by the applicant.

4. Impact—the applicant's contributions have significantly advanced deployment of the technology to benefit the target population. This includes downstream actions by third parties building on the applicant's contributions.

Humanitarian research

Criteria used for those who make available patented technologies to other researchers for conducting research with a humanitarian purpose, particularly areas lacking commercial application:

1. Subject matter—the applicant's technology, which is claimed in a U.S. utility patent in force at the time or a pending U.S. utility patent application, effectively supports research by others, for example, as a tool or input.
2. Neglected field—research by others clearly targets a humanitarian issue in an area lacking significant commercial application.
3. Contribution—the applicant took meaningful actions to make the technology more available for research by others in the neglected field. This only includes actions taken by the applicant.
4. Impact—the research by others has a high potential for significant impact on the neglected field. This includes downstream actions by third parties using the applicant's contributions.

Qualified judges from outside the USPTO will review and score the applications. The USPTO will then forward the top-scoring applications to reviewers from participating federal agencies to recommend award recipients.

Two types of awards will be made: Patents for Humanity Awards and honorable mentions.

The Patents for Humanity Award is the top award for applicants best representing the Patents for Humanity principles. Patents for Humanity Award recipients receive public recognition at an awards ceremony sponsored by the USPTO. They also receive a certificate to accelerate any of the following matters before the USPTO:

• A patent application,

• Ex parte reexam,

• Ex parte appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. 

Inter partes matters and other post-grant proceedings may not be accelerated at this time.

Honorable mentions receive accelerated examination of one patent application (but not other types of matters) and a mention on the USPTO website. A portion of honorable mention awards may be given to the best up-and-coming technologies.

Winners who have questions about redeeming their acceleration certificate should contact us.

A pilot Patents for Humanity award program was conducted in 2012–2013. It gave ten awards and six honorable mentions to businesses, universities, and nonprofits using patented technology to aid the less fortunate. Subsequent Patents for Humanity awards were made in April 2015, September 2016, August 2018, August 2020, and December 2022.

See a list of past Patents for Humanity Award winners:

• 2022 Award winners
• 2020 Award winners
• 2018 Award winners
• 2016 Award winners
• 2015 Award winners
• 2013 Award winners

Read press releases related to previous Patents for Humanity awards:

• 2020 Patents for Humanity winners: USPTO press release (August 26, 2020)
• 2018 Patents for Humanity winners: USPTO press release (August 9, 2018)
• 2016 Patents for Humanity winners: USPTO press release (September 9, 2016)
• 2015 Patents for Humanity winners: USPTO press release (April 13, 2015)

Past award ceremonies:

• 2020 Patents for Humanity awards ceremony (September 17, 2020, with recording of the event)
• 2018 Patents for Humanity awards ceremony (November 27, 2018, with recording of the event)
• 2015 Patents for Humanity awards ceremony (April 20, 2015, with recording of the event)