**4. Conclusion**

The purpose of this review is to examine the progress of research on the water treatment membranes of each country by evaluating the technical competitiveness of the patent and thesis of the water treatment membranes. In order to evaluate the competitiveness of patent technology, we analyzed the technology using four evaluation items: patent activity, patent concentration, patent market power, and patent influence. Of the 4433 valid patents searched for in relation to water treatment membrane technology, Korea, which belongs to the top 10 countries, ranked second place in patent activity, 10th place in patent market power, and 7th place in patent efficacy, indicating a concentration tendency. As a result of analyzing the top applicants by technology and section, it is found that Japan is much stronger overall, among which Toray Industries, Nitto Denko, and Asahi Glass are among the top applicants. In recent years, however, applications have been actively being made in Korea, such as Korea Institute of Energy Research, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, and Saehan. In addition, some applications related to the technology have appeared in other countries such as the USA and Canada. The competitiveness of patent technology in Korea can be relatively low compared to Japan in relation to technology, but if the trend is steadily rising in the recent years, the competitiveness of patent technology in Korea will sufficiently increase in future.

In case of publishing the thesis, we analyzed the technical competitiveness of the thesis on the related technology by using three evaluation items, thesis activity, thesis influence, and thesis concentration. Among the 47,242 validated papers related to water treatment membrane technologies, Korea ranked among the top 13 countries in terms of thesis activities and ninth in terms of thesis influence, and the concentration of thesis was mostly on seawater desalination membranes (1.19). As a result of analyzing the top ranking countries by technology and sector, overall, the USA has shown stronger strength; China and Korea are rising sharply, and Japan has shown a declining trend. The technology competitiveness in Korea can be relatively low compared to the developed countries in the related technology, but if the trend is steadily rising in the recent years, the competitiveness of paper technology in Korea will sufficiently increase in future.

When the patent application and the publication of the papers are comprehensively judged, the activities of patents and theses are actively carried out, but the qualitative level (market power, influence, concentration) is lower than those of the competitors. Among the four water treatment membrane technologies, Ion Exchange Membrane has the highest concentration of patents, of 0.57, the lowest among the top 10 countries, and its market power and influence remain low. The results of the papers showed a similar tendency as the patent applications. Though the activities of the thesis were recorded in the top 13 of the top applications, the influence of the quality of the thesis was recorded at the lowest level (ninth place). Particularly, in the case of the Republic of Korea, the separation membrane for ion exchange process among the four water treatment membrane technologies has the highest activity rate but the least influence. This is considered to be a result of the high price formation, low durability, commercialization technology, and the formation of a supply system in the ion exchange membrane for the ion exchange process in the domestic market. In order to solve this problem (solar, wind, geothermal, etc.), technological internalization through technological advancement, as well as a system that can secure economic efficiency, is important. In addition, it is necessary to develop pro-market-type products suitable for demand sites such as urban areas and industrial complexes that can respond to the increase in social demand for greenhouse gas reduction and stability of the metropolitan area system. It is necessary to utilize it as a strategy to cope with climate change and power plants and to utilize renewable energy in the medium and long term. Will gradually increase..
