Market Context — Why This Technology, Why Now

Global industries are facing immense pressure to miniaturize electronics, enhance energy efficiency, and ensure robust performance in increasingly dense electromagnetic environments. Regulatory bodies are also tightening standards for EMI, particularly in automotive and medical sectors. This technology enables manufacturers to meet these stringent requirements by offering a lightweight, high-performance shielding solution that facilitates product innovation, reduces material costs, and provides a competitive edge in rapidly evolving markets like EVs, 5G/6G, and advanced consumer electronics.

Key Competitive Advantages
01

Achieves significant weight and thickness reduction, utilizing less than 0.3mg/cm2 of CNT for equivalent or superior performance compared to traditional metal shielding.

02

Delivers superior electromagnetic shielding performance, particularly in high-frequency bands above 1GHz, surpassing conventional technologies for next-generation communication devices.

03

Optimizes material costs by significantly reducing the consumption of expensive CNT materials through minimal usage per unit area.

Market Opportunity
EV & Autonomous Driving
$1.5B globally (AI est.)
Electromagnetic noise countermeasures from in-vehicle ECUs and battery systems are essential, and there is a growing need to improve power efficiency through lightweighting, making this technology highly compatible.
Automotive electronics suppliers EV battery manufacturers Autonomous vehicle sensor developers
5G/6G Communication Devices
$1.0B globally (AI est.)
High-efficiency electromagnetic shielding in base stations and terminals is indispensable for ensuring stable communication in high-frequency bands, where this technology's strengths can be leveraged.
Telecom equipment manufacturers 5G/6G device component suppliers Network infrastructure providers
IoT & Wearable Devices
$0.5B globally (AI est.)
In these devices, which demand miniaturization, thinning, and lightweighting, this technology's sheet could enhance design flexibility and improve product competitiveness.
Consumer electronics OEMs Wearable technology developers Medical device manufacturers
IP Defensibility — Why Competitors Can't Replicate This
What This Patent Covers

This is a robust patent, having successfully navigated rigorous examination and two office action rejections, demonstrating clear inventive step over prior art. It specifically protects an electromagnetic shielding sheet featuring a continuous CNT layer as a conductive element, sandwiched by insulating layers, characterized by a low CNT usage of 0.3mg/cm2 or less, ensuring broad applicability and technical superiority.

Competitive White Space

This patent protects the core CNT sheet structure and its low material usage for electromagnetic shielding. Licensees could explore adjacent IP in advanced integration methods for complex device geometries or hybrid shielding materials for multi-functional performance.

Economic Impact
~$1.5M/year estimated material cost reduction per facility (AI est.)
estimated ROI · USD · AI analysis
ROI Calculation Logic

Traditional electromagnetic shielding materials, often expensive metals or composites, lead to high material costs and product weight. This technology, with extremely low CNT usage (under 0.3mg/cm2), could reduce material costs by approximately 1/3. For example, a product using 1 million m² of sheet annually could see an estimated material cost reduction of ~$1.50/m² (AI est.) compared to conventional methods, totaling ~$1.5M/year (AI est.). Additionally, lightweighting contributes to reduced shipping costs and improved product energy efficiency, potentially yielding a total annual cost impact of several million USD (AI est.).

Speed to Market
6× faster than in-house development
This technology features a simple structure of a continuous CNT sheet sandwiched by insulating layers, making it easily applicable to existing sheet manufacturing and lamination techniques. CNT materials are already commercially available, eliminating the need for specific new capital investment and significantly shortening development and validation phases. With established core technical principles, the transition from demonstration to mass production could be rapid, enabling licensees to achieve early market entry.
Competitive Positioning

X: Electromagnetic Shielding Performance (High-Frequency)
Y: Lightweight & Thin Profile

Business Models & Applications
⚙️ Embedded Product Licensing
Provides manufacturing and sales licenses for integrating this technology's sheets as components into a licensee's existing products (e.g., EVs, communication devices, medical equipment), enhancing product value and differentiation.
🤝 New Product Creation through Joint Development
Jointly develop new electromagnetic shielding solutions tailored for specific applications with the licensee, leveraging this technology as a foundation to address niche market needs and accelerate new product launches.
📦 Supply of CNT Sheet Material
A business model for directly supplying high-performance CNT electromagnetic shielding sheet material, manufactured using this technology, to licensees, supporting their production with stable quality and supply.
Adjacent Application Opportunities
🏥 医療機器
Enhanced EMI Shielding for Medical Diagnostics
In high-precision medical devices like MRI scanners and biosensors, external EMI can cause malfunctions. This technology's thin, lightweight sheets could be integrated into confined spaces, contributing to stable operation and potentially improving diagnostic accuracy by over 15%.
🚀 航空宇宙
Ultra-Lightweight Shielding for Aerospace Electronics
For drones, small satellites, and aircraft, equipment lightweighting directly enhances performance. This technology's ultra-lightweight EMI shielding sheets could protect electronics while reducing overall vehicle weight by up to 20%, potentially extending flight range or increasing payload capacity.
👕 スマートテキスタイル
Flexible EMI Shielding for Smart Textiles
Wearable devices like smartwatches and smart clothing require EMI countermeasures that consider human interaction. This technology's flexible sheets could be adapted to provide comfortable wearability and effective EMI shielding, enabling next-generation smart textiles with over 90% shielding effectiveness.
Integration Roadmap — Estimated 18-Month Deployment
Technology Evaluation & Design Optimization
Duration: 4 months
Based on the licensee's product requirements, optimize the sheet composition and CNT usage for this technology. Complete compatibility assessment with existing designs and initial prototype design.
Prototyping & Performance Validation
Duration: 7 months
Manufacture prototype sheets based on the optimized design and conduct detailed validation of electromagnetic shielding performance, durability, and lightweight properties under the licensee's testing environment.
Mass Production Setup & Market Launch
Duration: 7 months
Establish mass production processes based on validation results and support implementation into manufacturing lines. Begin full-scale integration into products and proceed with market deployment.
Technical Feasibility
This technology, with its CNT sheet sandwiched by insulating layers, could be relatively easy to integrate by applying existing sheet manufacturing and lamination techniques. It is achievable with general-purpose materials and processing technologies, avoiding large-scale capital investment, thus enabling rapid technology transfer and production ramp-up for licensees. The patent claims are clear, suggesting low technical implementation hurdles.
Success Scenario
Implementing this technology could enable a licensee's products to achieve both significant lightweighting and superior high-frequency electromagnetic shielding performance. This is estimated to result in up to 20% weight reduction and over 10dB shielding performance improvement in frequency bands above 1GHz compared to competitors, establishing product differentiation. Consequently, this could enhance market competitiveness and create opportunities to acquire new customer segments.
Patent Record
APPLICATION NO.
特願2020-174813
REGISTRATION NO.
7613717
FILING DATE
2020/10/16
GRANT DATE
2025/01/06
EXPIRATION DATE
2040/10/16
PATENT HOLDER
国立大学法人静岡大学
Examination History
2020年10月20日
手続補正書(自発・内容)
2023年09月19日
出願審査請求書
2024年06月25日
拒絶理由通知書
2024年07月17日
意見書
2024年07月17日
手続補正書(自発・内容)
2024年10月01日
拒絶理由通知書
2024年10月28日
手続補正書(自発・内容)
2024年10月28日
意見書
2024年12月10日
特許査定