Naver Labs, which is dedicated to the research and development (R&D) of future technologies, has surpassed 950 cumulative patent applications. By the end of the year, it is expected to exceed 1,000 applications.
According to the IT (information technology) industry on the 3rd, the cumulative patent applications of Naver Labs have surpassed 950 as of last month. The number of registered patents, both domestic and international, stands at 460. Naver Labs Europe (NLE), the largest artificial intelligence (AI) research institute in Europe, also exceeded 250 patent applications, making a total of over 1,200 patents when combined with Naver Labs. This is the largest scale among domestic internet corporations.
This accounts for 35% to 50% of Naver's total patent applications, and it has been reported that it has filed more than 100 patents annually since 2020, following its establishment in 2017. Naver Labs focuses on space intelligence research such as digital twins and autonomous driving, with over 60% of its patent applications related to space intelligence technology.
Space intelligence refers to the ability of AI to perceive and interact with three-dimensional physical space and its surrounding environment. It is a core technology that underpins key technologies like digital twins and autonomous driving, which are gaining attention as essential technologies for the near future. This area is highly competitive, with global big tech companies like Google, NVIDIA, and Tesla vying for dominance, particularly overseas.
Naver Labs Europe, located in Grenoble, France, is at the forefront of this global intellectual property competition. NLE is focused on research related to artificial intelligence and foundation models for robots, having already secured 150 patents, including 14 related to foundation models. Naver Labs previously established a digital twin of the entirety of Seoul using its technology in 2020, and also created a digital twin for the entire Naver Seongnam headquarters '1784.'
In the overseas market, it secured a project to build a digital twin platform from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in 2023, and in June, it unveiled a digital platform that integrates 3D models and real city data from three cities in Saudi Arabia: Mecca, Medina, and Jeddah. This project covers an area equivalent to 11 times that of Seoul (6,800 km²) and is currently being utilized in various fields such as urban development planning, administration, and disaster response simulations in Saudi municipal governments.