Could patents become Mongolia’s next resource?
Much of Mongolia’s present economic value was formed beneath the ground. A larger share of its future value must be created by people. If mining experience can become technology, intellectual property and solutions sold internationally, Mongolia can build capabilities that remain after an orebody is depleted.
Reading about the thousands of patents held by major global companies led me to a question. What could Mongolian companies build into an enduring source of ownership and competitive advantage?
Mining businesses in Mongolia begin with deposits of coal, copper, gold, fluorspar and other minerals. A deposit was formed by nature, not invented by a company. The right to use it is therefore governed through public law, licences and agreements. The size, grade and operating conditions of the resource largely determine how long and how profitably a business can continue.
A new process, device, software system or industrial solution is different. People create it. If that knowledge is protected and commercialised well, it can be used across many mines, countries and industries.
A deposit yields minerals. Experience can yield technology. The first is depleted through use. The second can grow when it is developed well.
What is a patent?
A patent is an exclusive legal right granted for an invention for a limited period. Within the territory where protection has been granted, it can prevent others from commercially making, using, selling or importing the invention without permission.
A patent is not one certificate that automatically applies everywhere. Protection must be sought and granted in the relevant country or region. For inventions, the term is generally twenty years from the filing date.
The patent system contains an exchange. The inventor discloses enough of the new knowledge for it to be understood. In return, the law provides temporary protection. After the term ends, others may use the disclosed knowledge.
A patent is therefore not a medal. It is a strategic choice alongside keeping knowledge secret or releasing it openly. The right choice depends on how the organisation intends to create value.
Patent volume is not the same as value
WIPO reported 3.7 million patent applications worldwide in 2024 and an estimated 19.7 million patents in force. In 2025, Huawei led published international PCT applications with 7,523, followed by Samsung Electronics with 4,698.
These figures show the scale of global competition around knowledge and technology. They do not mean that the company with the most patents is necessarily the most inventive or valuable.
One patent can reshape a market. A thousand patents can remain unused. Value depends on whether the invention enters a product, solves a customer problem, earns licensing income or protects a meaningful competitive position.
The goal is not to increase the patent count. It is to turn knowledge created in Mongolia into real value.
Natural resources and intellectual resources behave differently
A mineral resource is finite. Once a tonne of ore is extracted, it does not regenerate inside the deposit. Its value depends on global prices, grade, transport and operating cost.
Knowledge behaves differently. A solution that improves water use at one mine can be applied at another. A safety monitoring system, an ore sorting method, a new equipment component, an energy control system or a geotechnical prediction model can be used, improved and exported repeatedly.
Knowledge does not become a business automatically. It needs testing, evidence, engineering design, intellectual property advice, capital, manufacturing and customers. A patent can support this system, but it is not the final result.
What does Mongolia’s position tell us?
Mongolia ranked 78th among 140 economies in the 2025 Global Innovation Index. WIPO records 75 patent applications by Mongolian origin in 2023. Mongolia remains weak in international PCT patenting, patent families protected across jurisdictions, high technology manufacturing, knowledge diffusion and export complexity.
This does not mean Mongolia lacks ideas or talent. It suggests that the chain from discovering an idea to testing it, clarifying ownership, protecting it, financing it and taking it to market remains incomplete.
Mongolia performs relatively well in some measures such as trademarks, industrial designs and utility models. The next step is connecting these assets to higher value products, technology and export income.
Mining should produce two forms of wealth
The first output of a mine is mineral. The second should be the knowledge accumulated while planning, building and operating that mine safely and productively.
Mongolian mines operate in extreme climate, remote locations, water constrained environments, complex geology, long transport chains and a limited talent base. These conditions are not only difficulties. They are a real testing ground for solutions that other mines may also need.
Promising areas include water saving technology, equipment reliable in extreme cold, systems that connect mine planning to live information, predictive maintenance, hazardous area monitoring, ore sorting, intelligent energy management and artificial intelligence assistants for engineering work.
Some solutions should be patented. Others may be better protected through copyright, trade secrets, data, brands or contracts. The essential task is to stop losing operational knowledge as scattered experience and give it a clear form of ownership and reuse.
The path from the workplace to a patent
Patent work does not have to begin in a laboratory or a lawyer’s office. It can begin when an engineer, operator or maintainer solves a recurring problem in a different way.
First determine whether the problem repeats across operations and is valuable enough to solve. Search prior patents to identify what is genuinely new. Build a prototype, test it in real conditions and document the result. Then decide whether patenting, secrecy or open publication best serves the purpose.
Granting the patent is only the beginning. A plan is still needed to manufacture, license, find partners, transfer the technology into a new company and protect it in relevant international markets. A patent without a market can become little more than a drawing stored in a cabinet.
What kind of system is required?
Companies need a clear route for employees to submit, assess and test new ideas quickly. Ownership, inventor recognition, incentives and rights created with external partners should be understood before conflict appears.
Universities and research organisations need more than publication targets. They need the capability to work on industrial problems, search prior art, test prototypes and transfer technology.
Government should not simply demand more patent filings. Its role is to provide reliable law, capable examination, support for international protection, research incentives and stronger collaboration between companies and universities.
Investors must also learn to fund experiments, intellectual property, engineering teams and routes to market, not only buildings and equipment.
What should we avoid?
If a patent becomes a target in itself, organisations begin chasing numbers. Filing weak applications, patenting ordinary practice and claiming employee ideas without fair recognition will weaken rather than strengthen an innovation culture.
Not every invention should be patented. A patent application discloses the invention. When enforcement is impractical or a method can remain confidential for a long time, a trade secret may be the better choice.
The largest mistake is to believe that a patent completes the business. Without customers, manufacturing, quality, cost control, sales, service and trust, even a strong patent will not create value.
Wealth that remains after the mine closes
Mongolia can gain more from mining than tax, employment, infrastructure and export revenue. Every major operation can also become a place that produces engineering knowledge, new companies, exportable technology and internationally protected intellectual property.
This transition will not happen in one step. But it can begin now by noticing real problems, documenting solutions, testing them, choosing the right form of protection and taking them to market.
Mongolia’s future wealth is not only beneath the ground. It also lies in our ability to turn what we learn into solutions the world needs, and to build the institutions and companies capable of carrying them outward.
A note on sources and interpretation
The definitions, duration and territorial nature of patent rights, global patent figures, 2025 PCT applicant data and Mongolia’s innovation indicators were checked against official WIPO publications. The argument connecting these facts to mining, technology and Mongolia’s opportunity is my interpretation.
Principal sources: WIPO Patents FAQ, IP Facts and Figures, World Intellectual Property Indicators 2025 and the Global Innovation Index 2025 Mongolia Profile.