Convergence Technology Patent Attorneys

The term "convergence technology" is often defined in simplified terms as the combination of technologies from different fields into a single system or device. One general example is the "smart watch" which integrates telecommunications, information technology and biosensors into one system and device. Developments in other, more disparate technical fields are requiring both innovators and governments to adapt to new paradigms for protecting and regulating these novel combinations. Many examples of these technologies exist, such as :

• AI-enabled systems which assist radiologists and pathologists with identifying tumors
• Mobile wireless patient monitoring devices which provide continuous surveillance of vital signs
• Contract Research Organizations and biopharmaceutical companies using artificial intelligence to improve and shorten clinical trial and drug development timelines
• Algorithms that can help triage patients having and immediate need of attention, and which also improves hospital workflow

The impact of these convergence technologies was discussed at the 2020 World Medical Innovation Forum, at which Nobel Laureate and MIT professor Phil Sharp described convergence with an even broader vision:

"It’s not just computer science and biology that are converging, but engineering, physics, material science and agriculture too," he says.

“Life science is part of all of those processes and bringing physicists and engineering and information technology together to integrate life science with the translation to solving those problems is what convergence is about,” Sharp says. “It’ll be decades of exciting science and exciting technology.”

Our patent attorneys have represented clients with patenting convergence technology innovations for more than twenty years, and helped develop clinical and molecular pathology protocols for such convergent technologies as a scientist before becoming a patent attorney. Torrey Pines Law Group has assisted the combination of scientists, engineers, and physicians with developing, obtaining regulatory clearance, and commercializing convergence technologies including: