본 연구에서는 푸드테크 산업과 관련된 한국과 일본의 특허기술을 비교 분석함으로써 국내 푸드테크 기술의 지적재산권 확보 현황 및 향후 발전 방향에 대하여 살펴보고자 하였다. 2005년 1월 1일부터 2015년 12월 31일까지 약 10년간 대한민국 특허청과 일본 특허청에 등록된 푸드테크 관련 총 669건(한국 539건, 일본 130건)을 최종 분석 대상으로 하였으며, 수집된 특허는 식품의 가치사슬을 반영하여 ‘제조․가공․유통’, ‘판매․마케팅’, ‘소비자 사용 지원’으로 분류하였다. 그 결과, 한국의 경우, 총 분석 대상 특허의 41.7%가 판매․마케팅 관련 특허로 가장 많았으며, 다음으로 소비자 사용 지원 관련 특허(37.3%), 제조․가공․유통 관련 특허(21.0%) 순으로 분류되었다. 일본의 경우, 소비자 사용 지원 관련 특허가 56.2%로 높은 비중을 차지하였으며, 제조․가공․유통 관련 특허(32.3%), 판매․마케팅 관련 특허(11.5%) 순으로 나타났다. 특허 분류 분포상의 국가별 유의적인 차이 유무를 검증한 결과, ‘제조․가공․유통’의 경우, 한국은 ‘식품 품질관리’가, 일본은 ‘식품 제조․가공 과정 관리’와 ‘위생관리 및 위해성분평가’가 높은 비율을 차지하는 경향을 보였다(p<.05). 이어 ‘판매․마케팅’의 경우, 한국은 ‘구매지원 및 배달서비스’가, 일본은 ‘음식점 정보 공유’가 차지하는 비율이 높았으며(p<.05), ‘소비자 사용 지원’의 경우, 한국은 ‘주방 설비 및 조리장치 제어’가, 일본은 ‘식단․영양관리’가 높은 비율을 차지하는 것으로 나타났다(p<.001). 이상의 결과를 바탕으로 한국의 경우에는 맛집 추천, 주문․예약을 지원하거나, 구매 지원과 배달 서비스와 관련된 푸드테크 분야에서, 일본의 경우에는 식단과 영양관리, 식품․레시피 정보 공유, 식자재 조달을 지원하는 푸드테크 분야에서 특허등록이 활발하게 이루어지고 있는 것을 알 수 있었다. 전반적인 특허등록 건수는 한국이 일본에 비해 많은 편이었지만, 세부 기술 내용면에서 살펴보면 식품 제조, 가공 관리, 위생관리 및 위해성분평가관리, 식단․영양관리, 식품․레시피 정보 공유, 식자재 조달 관련 특허는 상대적으로 다소 제한적인 것으로 나타나, 향후 관련 분야에 대한 관심이 필요할 것으로 평가되었다. 본 연구결과는 식품의 생산, 조리/가공, 유통, 소비에 이르는 가치사슬(Value Chain)의 관점에서 한국과 일본의 푸드테크 관련 원천기술의 개발 동향을 파악함은 물론 향후 푸드테크의 신기술 개발 및 신시장 개척을 위한 기초자료로 활용될 것으로 기대된다.

Food environment has been going through significant changes with the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This study was conducted to investigate the current development status of ICT related to food delivery service by analyzing the relevant registered patents according to consumer buying process. Patents registered between 2002 and 2016 were searched with ‘food’ and ‘delivery’ as main keywords through Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (www.kipris.or.kr). The search resulted in 624 patents among which 219 patents were related to food delivery service; 108 patents based on ICT were selected and analyzed. The patents were examined by applicant and year. The patents were classified into the six steps of consumer buying process: ‘need recognition’, ‘information search’, ‘evaluation’, ‘choice’, ‘purchase’, and ‘postpurchase evaluation’. Patents belonging to more than one step were coded to all the corresponding steps. The patents were registered mainly by domestic companies (50.9%) and individuals (35.2%), having shown dramatic increase of registration since 2012. Over 2/3 (67.6%) of the patents were related to the ‘purchase’ step. About 32% were associated with the 'information search' step. Approximately 18% of the patents were relevant to the 'evaluation' and 'choice’ steps, respectively. The numbers of patents related to the 'postpurchase evaluation (13.9%)’ and 'need recognition (12.0%)' steps were relatively low. The current ICTs related to food delivery service in Korea were largely associated with service providers' profit generation rather than consumers' benefit. There is still much room for technology development that could contribute to increasing consumers' benefit.

The purpose of this study was to examine the current status of patents related to dietary life of the elderly in Korea. Using Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service, patents registered between 2002 and 2013 were searched with the key words including 'elderly or the aged' and 'food, meal, or dietary life.' The search results showed 1,438 patents, and 500 patents meeting the research purpose were selected and analyzed. They were divided into two categories: 'patents on foods' and 'patents on products and services related to dietary life.' The former was further divided into four subgroups as follows: foods for health promotion, foods for disease prevention, foods for the people with difficulty in swallowing and masticating, and others. Also, the latter was divided into products or services. The results showed that patents on foods accounted for about 90%, of which the patents on foods for health promotion were ranked as the highest (40%). The number of patents on products and services related to dietary life was relatively small, indicating that the technology development has been focused on foods. Therefore, the technology for products and services related to dietary life should be actively developed as well as that for foods to improve the quality of life for the elderly in the future.

Proper skin care promotes good metabolism and the biological activity of skin, helps maintain the skin in a healthy and beautiful state when combined with nutritional nourishment. Health functional foods are being used for the purpose of enhancing efficient skin care. Health functional foods related to skin care maintain the epidermis, dermal fibroblast layer and subcutaneous tissue that form the skin. Efficient functional foods alleviate the signs of endogenous aging that come with getting older and exogenous aging caused by sunlight. Even though the field of skin care related to health functional foods has received less attention and been the subject of less research compared to functional cosmetics which are developing widely, this area of skin care that maintains and improves the layer of dermal fibroblast through the intake of food, is expected to progress with the commercialization of products in many fields when the related technical research development is galvanized and the related patents are applied for. Research into health functional foods related to skin care in Korea started rather late in comparison to other advanced countries where patents for relevant techniques have been applied for since 1990's together with research conducted on how they might be used for practical purposes. This study used the key words ‘skin care, health functional food’ to search for Korean patents that have been applied for at the Korean Intellectual Property Office from 1983 to 2011 using the KIPRIS database, in order to help researchers in the related fields by organizing the patented formulas for health functional foods for skin care which have gained attention recently. According to the number of registrations in each industry field, the total number of patents was 1, 120 we screened the major patents among them, the field with the largest number was food foodstuff non-alcoholic beverage and preparation or treatment(A23L) with 135, then natural plant medicine & medical supplies and cosmetics(A61K) with 112, microorganisms or enzymes(C12N) with 63, heterocyclic compounds(C07D) with 44, horticulture or cultivation of sea weeds, forestry(A01G) 16 times, listed from the highest to the lowest number of applications. It has been revealed that food, foodstuff, non-alcoholic beverage and preparation or treatment(A23L) was the industry field where the most patents for health functional foods related to skin care were registered.